Speech Joram UKIP Congres - Hoofdinhoud
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is truly a privilege to speak a few words to you today. Here, during this beautiful venue in Doncaster, before the best political party in Great Britain: the UK Independence Party!
Thank you so much.
Please allow me to start with offering you my sincere congratulations: gaining four million votes at the general elections earlier this year is truly a magnificent result.
You have caused a political earthquake. If my party - VNL - were to gain four million votes at the Dutch general elections, we would be close to getting an absolute majority in our Parliament.
Ladies and gentlemen, if four million votes only brings a single seat, something has gone severely wrong with the British electoral system.
Britain needs electoral reform, Britain needs a proportional voting system, Britain needs a fair system!
Ladies and gentlemen, I would have loved to deliver a positive message today, but truth be told: the Netherlands is not doing well.
Unemployment is sky high, economic growth is very low.
Every year there is another record immigration influx and sadly, Dutch sovereignty is a thing of the past.
Once upon a time, ladies and gentlemen, we gave you a king, King William the Third. Today, all we have to offer are a few Premier League Managers. It is emblematic of the decline of our country.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Netherlands - and I’m pretty sure this goes for the UK as well - is craving for lower taxes. We propose a low flat tax of only twenty three per cent. This is possible even without raising the national debt. Lower taxes have always led to an increase in purchasing power and, eventually, to increasing growth and employment. In short, lower taxes lead to an increase in wealth.
High taxes are a problem for the Dutch and the British alike. But unlike Britain, we made another crucial mistake: we gave up our currency.
Ever since the introduction of the Euro, the economic growth of the so-called Eurozone has been consistently lower than that of Britain. Each and every year. Ladies and gentlemen, the Euro is nothing short of a disaster.
The introduction of the Euro has been the biggest mistake our ruling elites made since we traded New York - with you guys - for our former colony Suriname!
Ladies and gentlemen, the European Union is not only harmful to our economy, it also poses a threat to our security and our Western values.
Because the EU will not allow us to control our own borders, we have no idea who is entering our country. We have not a single clue. The Islamic State claims to have smuggled over 4,000 jihadists into Europe. Open borders are a threat to our national security.
Open borders also threaten our Western core values:
the separation of church and state, the equality between men and women and our freedom of speech. Open borders indeed threaten our very way of life!
My party, ladies and gentlemen, proposes acceptance of refugees solely in the region. It is utterly ridiculous that immensely rich Gulf States such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar accept virtually no asylum seekers.
Syrian refugees schould be received in the Middle East, not in Europe. My party is willing to set aside hundreds of millions of Euro’s in the following years for this.
And ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to regular immigration, our party calls for the Australian model: a points-based system that allows only those who add something to our society.
Immigrants should fill actual skill gaps, instead of entering simply for welfare benefits. It’s not scary, it’s not right-wing lunacy, it is simply common sense.
Ladies and gentlemen, the ruling Dutch elites gave it all away:
Our currency;
our sovereignty;
our security;
indeed, our very country.
Ladies and gentlemen, we must take it upon ourselves to reconquer our sovereignty. Not Brussels, not the German chancellor or the French president, but we ourselves must be in charge of our own country again.
We must save Europe by defeating the EU.
But we cannot do so alone. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance for likeminded political parties all over Europe to join hands. Only together do we stand a chance against the European Union. Only together can we hope to defeat the unchosen EU-bureaucrats.
That is the way towards more freedom, more prosperity and more security. We have no choice. We owe it to our children.
And make no mistake, it was - and still is - a tough battle.
Which is why I would like to conclude by reminding you of the words of a man who - if he were alive today - would change parties again, but would now choose UKIP - the greatest British hero of the last century and the liberator of the Netherlands: Sir Winston Churchill:
“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense.”
Thank you very much!