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Press Releases
Straight Talk interview with Nigel Farage
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Nigel Farage MEP, Leader of the UK Independence Party, talking on 大象传媒 News 24's Straight Talk With Andrew Neil this weekend, says Britain's present voting system is failing and calls for some element of proportional representation.
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Asked what would happen if, as a result of people voting UKIP at the next
election, the Liberal Democrats were to hold the balance of power, Nigel Farage
replies:
"Well that may well happen; and of course if it does, at the election after the
next one it'll be proportional representation, and there'll be 100 MPs from the
UK Independence Party."
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Andrew Neil: "Are you in favour of PR?"
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Nigel Farage: "I think that to have a first-past-the-post system, it's got the
merit of course that one man or woman represents that town and that's very
important - but to have a situation where on 24% of the popular vote we
have a government that can do virtually whatever it likes seems to me to be a
system that is failing, and I would like to see some element of PR, yes."
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Straight Talk With Andrew Neil, 大象传媒 News 24, Saturday 10 February at 4.30am, 10.30am and 10.30pm;
Sunday 11 February at 1.30am and 10.30pm.
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Extract from transcript
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Andrew Neil (AN): So what would you say then to the Tory shadow minister Liam Fox - and he's a pretty Euro-sceptic kind of guy - he says that, quote 'you have to
recognise that the person who would be happiest if people vote UKIP would be
the leader of the Labour party'.
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Nigel Farage (NF): Well of course, this is the old line that they always use; but
as I say there are no differences, no substantial policy differences between
the two parties. We're already - most of our laws are made somewhere else; and
frankly this argument about whether the blue rosette or the red rosette wins
the next election I don't think is the important political question. Isn't the
real question that should we, through the ballot box, vote for the people that
make our laws, or are we happy - and lets tell the British people the truth for
the first time - are we happy to have all the big decisions made for us
somewhere else? That's what the election should be about. Now if Liam Fox and
the Conservative Party are not prepared to address that issue, don't blame UKIP
for taking votes from them, blame Mr Cameron's leadership and the fact that
he's not prepared to address this issue.
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AN: But what would you feel if, as a result of voting for UKIP,
that there was a hung parliament in which the Liberal Democrats, the most pro-Europe of all the parties, held the balance of power, that would hardly further
your cause.
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NF: Well that may well happen; and of course if it does, at the
election after the next one it'll be proportional representation, and there'll
be 100 MPs from the UK Independence Party.
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AN: Are you in favour of PR?
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NF: I think that to have a first-past-the-post system, it's got the
merit of course that one man or woman represents that town and that's very
important - but to have a situation where on 24% of the popular vote we
have a government that can do virtually whatever it likes seems to me to be a
system that is failing, and I would like to see some element of PR, yes.
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PR
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