Today the Three UKIP Councillor on Rutland County Councillor sent the following letter to all Rutland County Councillors. I fully support their complaint of harassment by the local Tory Police. Ds McDonald had the cheek to tell me all I am enduring is a test case. I hope he and Leicestershire police get plenty of egg on their face when the district Judge gets to hear my case.
We have today sent the following statement to Rutland Councillors advising them that we have now joined UKIP and why. You will also note that we outline the fact that, as far as we are concerned, it is us that are being harassed and intimidated from doing our duty as Councillors and we make it quite clear we are no longer prepared to accept this, as it is severely restricting us from properly representing the people of Rutland.
Dear Fellow Councillors,
We write to notify all Members that the members of the Rutland Anti-Corruption Group, Councillor Gale, Councillor Richardson and Councillor Wainwright, have now joined the United Kingdom Independence Party, UKIP.
You may have seen the recent Press statement as to why we joined UKIP, which was mainly on the grounds that UKIP support the same ideals as ourselves, those of openness, transparency, honesty, integrity and supporting the fundamental principles of democracy, all of which, as far as we are concerned, have sadly been lost in Rutland. UKIP also stated they liked our tag of Anti-Corruption as it represented the very platform they come from, they, like us, see it as nothing more than a statement of what we stand for. UKIP are also adamant that the whip will never be held over UKIP Councillors and that all Councillors are there first and foremost to represent their electorate, not those of self or Party interest, which we found very encouraging.
We also feel we should make you are aware of the recent lengths that have been taken to effectively harass us from doing nothing more than our duty as Councillors for our electorate, most recently this involved a complaint of harassment against Councillor Gale to the Police. This complaint resulted in Councillor Gale being called to the Local Police Station for an interview, which involved three Detectives, for 3 hours. They concluded there was no evidence to take the matter any further. We believe this has merely served to waste extensive Police time and resources. The continued harassment of us has been further exacerbated with a letter from the Police, sent separately to all three of us, effectively warning us from going about our business as Councillors and which would then restrict us from carrying out our duty in a free and unrestrained manner. However, we are not prepared to accept this type of intimidation. This latest letter from the Police is factually incorrect and, as far as we are concerned, has been written without a full and proper investigation of those facts resulting in very much a one-sided statement, yet again it implies we are guilty without evidence, trial or jury, we would have expected better from the Police, this we now believe to be nothing more than clear harassment and intimidation against us. This was a further reason we made the decision, after much deliberation and consultation with others, to join UKIP in order to be afforded the proper political support which we found so sadly lacking before as Independents. We attach a copy of the recent letter we received from the Police to indicate what we are having to endure. (to be published separetely)
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Gale, Councillor Richardson, Councillor Wainwright
