Gerard Batten was elected as the UK Independence Party Member of the European Parliament for London in June 2004 and has been selected by UKIP as its London Mayoral candidate.
Although he was born in Harold Hill both sides of his family have lived in the East End of London for generations and and he has lived and worked in London all his life.
Prior to being elected to the European Parliament he worked for British Telecom for twenty-eight years as a salesman, where in various capacities, he sold to some of the company’s largest corporate customers. This gives him experience and insight in the real commercial world sadly lacking in many politicians today.
He was a founder member of the UK Independence Party in September 1993 and was the first Party Secretary from 1994 to 1997. He has also been a member of the party’s National Executive Committee.
As an MEP he has published pamphlets on a number of subjects. Most notably in 2006 and 2007 an annual study entitled How Much Does the European Union Cost Britain? His conclusions show the combined costs total at least £60 billion gross, and £50 billion net, per annum. These figures were published in the national press and remain one of the few attempts to put a cost on EU membership. He is now working on the figures for the 2008 edition.
He is a member of the European Parliament’s Security and Defence Committee, and is UKIP’s spokesman on Security and Defence Issues. He is also co-chairman of UKIP’s Defence Policy Review Committee and Chairman of the Immigration Policy Review Committee.
Gerard Batten said, “As London’s Mayor I will put an end to the divisive politics of pandering to special interest groups and multi-culturalism. As far as I am concerned there are only Londoners and British citizens. As Mayor I will only spend money where that is in the interests of London and Londoners as a whole.
“My priorities as Mayor will be to combat crime (which is now out of control in London); to keep Council Tax and Business Rates to a minimum; to help businesses large and small make London more prosperous by removing unnecessary burdens; and to get London traffic moving again by abandoning Ken Livingstone’s policies based on hatred of the car. My policy is to abolish the congestion charge and I reject the idea of emission charges.”
