UKIP is relaunching in Oldham as MPs continue to agonise over the Brexit agreement with the EU.
Former Army sergeant Paul Goldring and leader of the Oldham branch said the party was planning to contest all 20 seats at the May 2 local council elections.
Mr Goldring, aged 66, finished fourth in the November by-election in Failsworth East, ahead of the Liberal Democrats.
Born and bred in Portsmouth, Mr Goldring spent 14 years in the Army before becoming a service manager for various engineering companies, before retiring from a company in Burnley.
The widower has moved to Oldham where he shares a home in Royton with his current partner Joan Mills, who owns the unisex hairdressing business Old Porter’s Lodge in Oldham.
He told The Oldham Times: “I joined UKIP in 2015 when I was living in Telford. I wasn’t a political person, but I was incensed every day being told by people in Brussels I couldn’t do this or that.
“It was nothing to do with race or immigration, it was about sovereignty. I spent 14 years of my life defending this country only to see someone try to take over and run it.”
Mr Goldring said the Oldham branch of UKIP folded in 2017 when the previous committee members “all disappeared”.
“One can only conclude that a lot left after the result of the 2016 referendum came in because they thought the job was done.
“But our aim is to fight all 20 seats on May, and on local issues.
“For example, I was disgusted to read that the idea of reducing the number of councillors didn’t even get out of scrutiny committee, and the announcement of £22 million budget cuts.
“The expression snouts in the trough springs to mind. If councillors want to prove that they are not in it for the money, they can make the same amount of savings by taking a 33 per cent cut in their allowances.
“Policing in Oldham is also a major issue – there isn’t any. I’ve been subjected to verbal abuse and physical threats, but the police didn’t think it was important enough to do anything about it.”
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