Tingle in a tangle

COUNTDOWN TO NORWICH NORTH BY-ELECTION - 5 DAYS

UKIP By-election candidate, Glen Tingle, was today accused of using wildly misleading statistics on immigration in order to scare people into voting for him in the Norwich North by-election 23 July.

Tingle stated “Race and immigration issues are the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about” at a question and answer session for candidates on Thursday 16th July at Norwich Council City Chambers.

And in their latest newspaper advertisement, UKIP have removed their opposition to the EU, instead focussing on immigration and the problems that it allegedly causes.

Tingle and UKIP claim that 1,000 new immigrants arrive in the UK each day, but Hope not Hate, a local anti-racist organisation, say that this statistic is deeply misleading and ignores how many people are emigrating from the UK each year as well as how many people from the UK now work overseas.

Hope not Hate has accused UKIP of deliberately stoking fears about wide spread immigration with statements that are simply not true.

The Office for National Statistics reported that the number of people leaving the UK has increased by 15% in the year to 2008. The Home Office also reported on independent research that found "In addition there are now around 1.5 million British people working in other countries in the European Union...”

Hope not Hate spokesperson Michael Walker said: “Tingle claims that immigration is the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about. It would have been wise of Tingle to establish whether it is an elephant-size problem or a mouse-sized problem before trying to frighten people.

"If Glen Tingle really wants to be Norfolk’s Enoch Powell, then he will soon realise that the vast majority of people in Norwich do not support his views.

"Norwich is a vibrant, multi-cultural community that is welcoming and compassionate. It doesn’t want people to stir up racial hatred.

"If UKIP want to avoid being labelled BNP Lite then they had better start being more careful with the facts.

"If Glen Tingle gets elected, I hope that his expenses claims are more accurate than his statistics on immigration levels.”