Veritas ready for Erewash battle

by Eric Simpson
BBC News, East Midlands

Kilroy-Silk is determined to make a mark in Erewash

Crime and order is expected to top the agenda in the Derbyshire constituency of Erewash.

The blue-collar East Midlands' seat will be the battleground for former Labour MP and Veritas party leader Robert Kilroy-Silk.

But sitting MP Liz Blackman predicts her biggest threat will be the Tories rather than TV personality Kilroy-Silk.

She said the fight against anti-social behaviour and vandalism will be a hot issue during the campaign.

He is a candidate that is out of touch with the area as he lives in a big house in Buckinghamshire Sadie Graham, BNP candidate

Mr Kilroy-Silk said he will be joining the debate on crime on the doorstep - along with several other of his favourite issues.

"We will talk about Europe, asylum, crime and pensions... and we will work on zero tolerance for crime," he said.

The main towns in the area - Long Eaton and Ilkeston - are often targets for vandalism and graffiti.

"I have lobbied like mad for community support officers and for Asbos to be served when needed," Ms Blackman told BBC News.

She said although the number of police in Derbyshire has increased in the past four years, graffiti and vandalism remain a problem.

"Labour will campaign on their improvements and the role I play in representing the people of Erewash."

2001 RESULTS Liz Blackman Labour 23,915 Gregor MacGregor Tory 16,983 Martin Garnett Lib Dems 5,586 Louise Smith UKIP 692 Steve Belshaw BNP 591 RU Seerius Raving Looney 428 Peter Waldock Socialist Labour 401

Tory David Simmons, who is a councillor in West London but has recently moved to Derbyshire, said he will be Labour's main opposition.

"The level of gun crime in Nottingham and Derby is growing - and Erewash falls neatly between those two cities.

"The area has no police custody facilities, which means suspects are taken to Ripley and this takes police off the beat," he said.

British National Party candidate Sadie Graham, 26, has already tackled the Veritas Party for "stealing our policies".

She said Mr Kilroy-Silk is not as tough on illegal immigration as her party. "He is a candidate that is out of touch with the area as he lives in a big house in Buckinghamshire," she said.

I am very relaxed about the result - the political scientists say it is a safe Labour seat - but we will have to wait and see Robert Kilroy-Silk, Veritas candidate

The BNP party will not win the seat, she admitted, but wants to put forward its policies in order to improve its chances in future local elections.

Mr Kilroy-Silk said: "The science says we couldn't win but we did win the East Midlands in the Euro elections.

"I am very relaxed about the result - the political scientists say it is a safe Labour seat - but we will have to wait and see."

He said Veritas was attracting "more and more candidates every day" and hopes to field more than 100 on election day.

Liberal Democrat Martin Garnett, a 49-year-old lecturer at the University of Nottingham, says his party will focus on a fairer form of local taxation.

He called for fairer distribution of tax based on the ability to pay, with Inland Revenue collecting the tax to avoid evasion and cut costs.

Mr Garnett said: "I would love to creep through the middle into second place if the right wing split the vote."

Split vote

The Tory candidate, who ran in the Caerphilly constituency in Wales in the 2001 election, said Veritas had done his party a favour by running, saying Mr Kilroy-Silk will split the Eurosceptic vote.

But UKIP candidate Geoffrey Kingscott, said his party should not be written off.

"We came first in the European elections in Erewash, so since then this has been seen as a key seat for us.

"The threat to social cohesion in England is a major problem - and the threat comes from various European integration, uncontrolled immigration and the breakdown of authority."

Mr Kingscott, 68, who ran unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate in Sheffield in 1968, said : "People who vote Veritas will be voting for Kilroy-Silk the celebrity, rather than for the policies he theoretically espouses."

Other candidates in Erewash include R.U. Seerius of the Monster Raving Loony Party and David Bishop of the Church of the Militant Elvis Party.