Live webchat with UKIP leader Nigel Farage, Thurs 24 Feb, 1-2pm

[KatieMumsnet]

Our live webchat guest this week is Nigel Farage. He is the leader of UKIP and has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 1999.

Known for his straight-talking, Nigel has made the headlines with forthright speeches, once telling the EU President he had the charisma of a 'damp rag'.

He is a regular on programmes including BBC Question Time.

If you have a question you'd like to put to Nigel, please join the webchat this Thursday lunchtime, 1pm - 2pm. If you won't be around then, please post your question here.

Will people come for low paid work if it's just temporarily though? Please do not think I am being diffiult but this is a legitimate concern. These jobs are low paid, demanding physically, mentally and emotionlly. I'd rather see people coming willingly to care knowing thay they may get settlement rights than vacancies being left unfilled bcause there is no incentive to come here.

Our very low paid jobs ARE filled often by immigrants of many ntionalities coing to the UK for a variety of reasons. I understand the need to see "who is here" but jus think that could be managed in a different way.

Those here illegally for whatever reason are a different matter.

God bless Alex Jones!

SGM and Damsel - exactly. We're clearly 'ignorant'. Not capable of disagreement or of highlighting the flaws in their arguments but 'ignorant'.

I'm interested in Rinseoff's response, too which just develops this: we're 'childish', using 'foot-stamping' techniques - therefore incapable of rational thought and we need to simply accept what we're being told . The same tired old gender hierarchy being trotted out time and again...

PS MormonKris, I'll ask again. Are you a registered UK voter?

I am interested in the Immigration rights of those married to British citizens, as I have found no mention of it on the website. Would a foreign born spouse be allowed to move to UK under the UKIP proposal?

the SMP being abolished along with sick pay would be a concern of many on this board I would think.

I wonder whether it would be possible to compile a list of the actual questions asked on this thread before Mr Farage arrives? I'd hate him to miss any of them, especially those from proper MNers (as opposed to the folk who've drifted in from the UKIP site for the chat).

DillyDaydreaming - very good question.

I'll repost my question here:

Mr Farage, how do you propose to go about promoting 'one culture for all' and who decides what that culture will be?

I'll second cakeywakey's question. How are you going to isolate and enforce a singular 'British' culture, when no such thing has ever existed?

Jeez, I wish I could join you today but I'll be watching The Wright Stuff followed by the Vanessa show on Fiver - let's face it, it's more likely to be peaceful than this webchat

My question to Nigel

So, we have all had a bit of fun with your supporters but I would like to address a question to you.

I was appalled to read these statistics which showed that

an astounding 59% of British citizens think that immigration is too high

Asked to estimate the proportion of foreign-born people living in the UK, the average guess is 29.4%. The true figure according to OECD data is 10.8%

Around a quarter of Brits don't think any migrant should be allowed to access the NHS (25%) or state schools (22%), even if they are here legally

80% of British citizens do not think that children whose parents have brought them to UK illegally should be allowed to go to school. Or use NHS resources.

Does reading a statement like that make you ashamed that your party has contributed to the culture of fear of immigration?

Do you take the responsibility for rise in intolerance in the British culture?

I feel ashamed to read those statistics. Ashamed to be British. How does that fit in with your hope of making Britain a country to be proud of?

MmeLindt - where do these statistics come from - they sound outrageous.

Could we repost our questions here and move the general discussion to this thread

Statistics

I need to choose a querstion from all my meandering posts.

Hmm.

1. WHy would I, as Mum to 4 chidlren with varying degrees of SN (ds4 probably, undiagnosed but quite obvious to an educated eye) vote for a party that has a mean joke about disability discrimination and Rudolph come up when I try and search for disability policy on the website?

2. As a part time studying part time employed carer married to a part time employed full time studying partner, how would we alaso omplete the workfare demanded in your manifesto for the snall percentage of housing benefit we will receive until we qualify?

3. My two autistic sons botha ttend a Base which is midway between ful;l inclusion and a specialist unit; do you support those or should they attend a special school distiinct from the mainstream provision?

Re-posting mine as well:

Can you explain your parental leave policy in your manifesto? It is not clear to me.

"The impact on small businesses [of EU maternity pay legislation] is disproportionately damaging...many SMEs are understandably nervous about employing young women, or try not to promote them to key positions.

UKIP proposes to vastly simplify this legislation. It would be up to each employer to decide whether to offer parental leave and this would be one of the items included in the standard employment contract (see above). An SME which refuses to offer parental leave will either have to offer young women higher salaries than other businesses which offer a long leave period or they will simply have to recruit from a smaller pool of potential employees.

Here.

I interpret this as meaning that UKIP will exempt small and medium businesses (which according to you are responsible for 55% of employees in the UK) from statutory maternity leave and pay. Is this the correct interpretation?

See y'all at one.

Thank you MmeLindt - so 1003 people who were called or visited to get this information - 1003 out of the whole population of the UK. Let's say those figures are right shall we.

an astounding 59% of British citizens think that immigration is too high
and yet most of us rely on that immigration to get basic services done, whether food production, agriculture or healthcare.

Asked to estimate the proportion of foreign-born people living in the UK, the average guess is 29.4%. The true figure according to OECD data is 10.8% - The level of legitimate permanent residents is 10.8%. Well if you asked me how many people from the EU were living in the UK I couldn't estimate that accurately either, or the percentage of people who were of a particular race who were UK citizens. People aren't very good at estimating. Which is all this demonstrates.

Around a quarter of Brits don't think any migrant should be allowed to access the NHS (25%) or state schools (22%), even if they are here legally

Ooh about 250 people are a bit racist - wow that's a shocker

80% of British citizens do not think that children whose parents have brought them to UK illegally should be allowed to go to school. Or use NHS resources.

Or to put that another way 80% of people do not believe using fraudulent means to obtain advantage is a bad thing and 20% didn't understand the badly worded question.

Not so shocking really. :)

Two questions:

• Do you agree with various EU Treaty provisions and Directives related to gender equality, including (1) equal access to employment; (2) equal pay; (3) maternity protection; (4) parental leave; (5) social security and occupational social security; and (6) the burden of proof in discrimination cases and self-employment?

• Since a decisions by a Member State to leave the EU cannot be made in the European Parliament (but must be made by national governments/parliaments), then why are you a member of a body where you cannot achieve your primary political objective? Since

please do answer my question Mr Farage,1st on posted and all that

you regularly misrepresent statistics eg you said europe now makes 75% uk laws.this is untrue.do you use such tactics to incite indignation and create misplaced ire?

will read later back to work

WMMC
I do think it is shocking that casual racism in 25% of the surveyed people is apparent. And that 80% of Brits do not think that children of immigrants should have the right to basic services such as schooling and medication. These are children. Not adults trying to cheat the system. Don't we have a responsibility to them? If you want to debate it more, please head over to the other thread as I don't want to clutter up this thread.

Did your life flash before you when you had the plane crash and would you ever (or have you ever) fly in a light aircraft after that?

How would you reassure people that your party embraces diversity?

Hi Nigel,

What would be the 5 most important things that you would change about this country if in power to achieve your vision of "uniculturalism"?

Do you ever consider that you are suffering from a kind of nostalgic ignorance, in that you are trying to turn the clock back to a past that this country has never had and has never wanted? Our whole history has been of different peoples coming to this land, bringing new ideas, and, in time, integrating; your idea of one unifying Britishness sounds terribly naive and misplaced to me; our diversity is a joy and a strength.

Thanks

Another one; would you describe yourself as a feminist?