UKIP has announced David Black as its prospective parliamentary candidate for Newbury in the forthcoming General Election, due to take place next year.
Retired A-level geography teacher and Newbury resident, David Black, will stand for the United Kingdom Independence Party and has been a member since 1993.
Widower, Mr Black, currently lives in Fifth Road and has six children with 21 grandchildren.
Nationally, the party campaigns to withdraw from the European Union and Mr Black said it was the “contempt” the main three British parties had shown for democracy which encouraged him to stand.
He said: “They all promised the British people a say on the EU, yet they all broke their promise. I am standing for UKIP as I believe that the best people to govern Britain are the British people themselves, free from interference from Brussels.”
UKIP claims that one if its key policies is to help re-connect voters with the political process through local referenda on major local issues Mr Black said: “We are for direct democracy. It is time the political elite trusted the people that elected them in the first place.”
The UKIP candidate slammed his rival and the current MP for Newbury, Richard Benyon, claiming that Mr Benyon supported the development of Newbury Racecourse despite public opposition.
He said: “Richard Benyon has thrown his support behind this proposed housing development. Is Mr Benyon really listening to the concerns of local people, the people who elected him?”
At the next general election, Mr Black said only a vote for UKIP will produce significant change and “re-establish parliamentary democracy”.
He said: “A vote for Conservatives, Liberals or Labour will mean a continuation of the status quo. They will have very little scope for manoeuvre on national policies as most decisions and policy initiatives now originate from the EU.”
He added: “Not only will we restore democracy, but withdrawal from the EU could save as much as £120 billion annually, a study by the TaxPayers Alliance has shown. Imagine what we could do with this dividend. It would go along way to reducing our record national deficit, safeguarding key public services such as schools and the NHS.”
Mr Black can be contacted by emailing davidb@ukip.org.