Ukip launches European election campaign with promise to ‘set Britain free’

UK Independence Party leader Gerard Batten has launched their EU election campaign saying they are the only political party with a clear policy on how to leave Europe.

Mr Batten was speaking to a group of around 50 people in Middlesbrough ahead of a nationwide tour.

He urged supporters to vote for Ukip on May 23 and said a victory for the party “will enable us to continue the struggle to set Britain free from the EU”.

Mr Batten, speaking in front of a campaign bus emblazoned with the slogan “Tell them again! Vote Ukip”, said a vote for his party would be a vote to leave the EU.

He said: “If they do that, they will send a clear message to our politicians in Westminster.”

Mr Batten said Ukip’s policy included no second referendum, as holding one would mean “the effective end of democracy in this country”.

He told the crowd: “Our Government needs to stop asking the European Union how it can leave and start telling them how it’s going to happen.

“We need a plan of how to make it happen and Ukip has that plan.

“And we don’t mind if the Government steals our plan because it’s going to be very good for our country.”