This article was first published at Kipper Central and is republished with kind permission.
I am extremely pleased with the NEC’s decision to appoint Gerard Batten as our interim leader, but before I talk about the future, I would like to address the recent events that we have gone through as a party.
At the start of Henry Bolton’s tenure as UKIP leader, I was 100% behind him and I was looking forward to building bridges between the youth wing and the main party with him. Unfortunately, things fell apart very quickly. Henry u-turned on all his promises to YI and made matters worse by imposing a 900% membership fee increase for our young members. I was ignored by Henry, even when YI was facing serious times, with our membership dropping by 300 in 2 months. My suggestions and pleas were ignored, by text, by phone call and even in person.
One thing that concerned me at the EGM was Henry’s closing speech, which was supposed to convince people to vote against the motion of no confidence. He decided to once again threaten the party if he didn’t get his way and he said that in such an aggressive tone. This was the third time Henry had threatened the party. The moment he said that, many people, including the YI Executive Council got up and walked to the back of the room to vote against Henry before he had even finished his speech.
I am pleased Henry was democratically removed as leader at the EGM, however I wish he had done the honourable thing and stood down when the NEC had a vote of no confidence in him and the vast majority of his spokespeople, including his own deputy leader, resigned their positions. It would have saved the party a whole lot of money.
Now to the future, I am fully behind Gerard Batten as our interim leader and I believe he is the right man to lead us forward until the next leadership election and certainly through the local elections in May. Thousands of people are already joining or even re-joining the party now that Henry has gone, and Veterans Against Terrorism has already confirmed they are pushing their members to join UKIP and start being active in the party.
After speaking to Gerard before and after his appointment, I am extremely confident that UKIP and Young Independence will have a great relationship going forward.
The membership fee should be lowered once again to an affordable and realistic amount, we should have someone speaking for the youth on a national platform within the “shadow cabinet” and we should start working together again to deliver a BREXIT and common-sense message like we used to.
The Young Independence Executive Council members will be going around the country, speaking to branches and speaking at events to push the YI message, to advise branches on how to attract more young people to the party and to start more interactions between the youth wing and the branches.
If you would like us to speak at your branch, please ask your branch chairman to get in touch with either myself (National Chairman), Reece Coombes (Deputy Chairman) or message the Young Independence Facebook page and we will arrange everything.
Nathan Ryding is the elected Chairman of Young Independence, UKIP’s youth wing.
It is hugely important to welcome young people to join us. Membership fees should be very, very low, especially for the 16-18 age group. Fees should also be low for the 18-25 age group. It is their enthusiasm and commitment we need now, for we can ask them for full membership fees later when they have a little more cash.
It is fantastic to see our YI chair and deputy chair looking after our next generation coming through. Thank goodness our party has called time on our last leader; what a way to treat fellow members of our party.
Kipper Central is an excellent site and all power to your elbow, Reece. And a fantastic article Nathan. Our future is certainly in safe hands!
It is good to have these young people on board because Brexit will affect them much more than most of us.
Nathan and Rees are absolutely spot on. Henry Bolton was dismissive and even contemptuous of YI. He turned up extremely late for a meeting, offered scant apology and couldn’t even remember who he had actually met only a few weeks later — embarrassingly confusing Reece with Nathan live on LBC.
It is obvious to everyone that YI are the future of both the party and of the country. We need to do everything we can to encourage and motivate them — giving them good reasons to join and to remain members of UKIP.
I am sure that Gerard and his new Team will have this in hand as a breath of fresh air already seems to have started to blow through the party post Bolton, even despite the outcome of the Jane Collins case.
Thanks for the article I welcome it.
Bav kindly explained to me the benefits of having the YI as opposed to a simple reduction on membership fees according to age.
I agree that HB should have resigned.
At a bare minimum of averaged £50 costs per person travelling to the EGM and assuming they spent 10 hours each just based on an attendance of 1400 equates to
£70,000 members paid
14,000 time spent
NEC costs
Head Office costs
It adds up to a lot.
HB should be expelled from the party, (my opinion).
YI should be well represented at the national level.
Personally YI membership should be as minimal as possible even well below £20.
Someone has reasoned that £20 covers the costs.
However getting young people signed up and involved will bring far more benefits than the extra minimal costs of a subsidised membership fee. It is simple leverage. A young person has more influence by far than older members. So a nominal £10 or £12 fee would work to UKIP’s advantage. However that is between YI and Gerard Batten to formulate.
YI and this article brings considerable optimism.
Although I was amongst those wanting Henry to go, I have to say that putting up the membership fee was the one thing he got right. The fees for 16 – 18 years olds should be kept low, but not to the extent that their membership is practically free. Everything in life has to be paid for.
£20 per year, which I think was the figure Henry wanted for members of YI, does not seem too much to me. It is less than 50 pence per week! You can’t even buy a newspaper for that. How much does your average 18 year old lad spend in the pub at the weekend? Probably a lot more than 50p.
I think you’ll find Nathan agreed for it to be raised from the previous very low level – whilst waiting for Henry to turn up, very late, he and Paul negotiated a compromise on the £20, which I think was £12 – still more than it costs to be in Momentum.
Henry then swept all that away when he turned up!
BTW – Deputy Chairman Reece is too young to be quaffing ale in the pub but not too young to run a great resource in Kipper Central.
Well written article, nothing in it to disagree with, in fact having looked around the mass of white/grey heads (including my own) I think it is essential that YI has every encouragement to be fully involved in UKIP affairs, our long term future depends on their continued recruitment and development.
One thing he said that caught my eye was “thousands of people are joining or have already rejoined the party……..Veterans………”
Can Central Office please issue a weekly update of actual numbers? sorry I`m a skeptic and regarding the veterans I have already posted “proof of the pudding is in the eating” that`s not to say I don`t wholeheartedly welcome their intervention, but I feel a rapid bulking up of our membership over the next few weeks is highly necessary for the public to regain faith in us and give us a second chance.
Irrespective of the present surge generated by recent events, I think we must instigate a national recruitment campaign – “yesterday” time is of the essence we need to be shown as the only legitimate organisation speaking for a COMPLETE Brexit and we can only do that by increasing our bulk – NOW
If any more proof were needed that the vote at the EGM was the correct one then this article removes any doubt. YI are the future of the Party and should be encouraged in every way. A 900% increase in the YI membership fee is unacceptable. I am sure Gerard will address this issue.
As to the invitation for a YI speaker at branch meetings that is something that all branches need to address. I look forward to seeing a YI speaker at our next meeting.
Good! The patriotic resistance has become too divided, if we can’t unite, then let’s at least become different regiments in the same army.