We welcome the chance to put UKIP’s positive message to the electorate on June 8

Paul.jpgFollowing the Prime Minister’s announcement of a General Election on June 8, UKIP Leader Paul Nuttall said: “We welcome the opportunity to take UKIP’s positive message to the country.

“However, we believe that the Prime Minister’s decision to call this election is a cynical decision driven more by the weakness of Corbyn’s Labour Party rather than the good of the country.

“There is also the prospect of a slew of Tory held by-elections caused by the seeming systematic breach of electoral law at the last election, predominantly in places where UKIP were pressing the Conservatives hard.

“We are in the midst of Brexit negotiations so this election will provide a perfect opportunity for the 52% to vote for UKIP the only party wholeheartedly committed to a clean quick and efficient Brexit.”



Press release: More than 400 rod licences checked in Easter crackdown

Environment Agency officers checked more than 400 rod licences in an Easter weekend crackdown on illegal fishing.

Officers patrolling North East river banks checked 421 anglers, reporting 29 offences.

Of these, 21 were for rod licence offences, 7 were byelaw and close season offences and one offence under the Theft Act.

It’s currently the close season for coarse fishing, which means fishing for coarse fish on rivers and streams is not permitted. This is done to protect breeding fish, helping to safeguard stocks for the future.

Kevin Summerson, Fisheries Enforcement Technical Specialist at the Environment Agency, said:

It’s encouraging that the vast majority of anglers abide by the law, but there are still too many that we find during patrols that are fishing illegally.

We take illegal fishing very seriously – it’s not fair on other anglers and endangers the future of the sport.

Our work is intelligence led and we work closely with our partners at the police and Angling Trust to target known hot spots and where illegal fishing is reported to us.

We carry out enforcement work all year round and will be continuing throughout the coming weeks, including the upcoming Bank Holiday weekends.

We really want people to get outdoors and enjoy what is a fantastic sport, and the rod licence is great value for money for all the family.

I’d urge people to help us protect the health of our fisheries by reporting any suspected illegal activity to us.

All the money from rod licence sales goes back into maintaining the health of fisheries and waters, angling projects and much more.

Anyone caught fishing without a valid licence could be fined up to £2,500 and fishing during the close season attracts a fine of up to £50,000.

Coarse fishing is still allowed on most still waters and canals, depending on fishery owner agreement, though a valid fishing licence is still required. You can check which still waters and canals still have a close season in operation by checking the byelaws which apply in your area at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-fishing-byelaws

Anyone who wants to go fishing needs to buy a fishing licence. A full annual licence costs £30 (short term and some concessionary licences are also available) and are available online at www.gov.uk/get-a-fishing-licence.

Environment Agency officers routinely carry out licence checks and anyone with information about illegal fishing activities is urged to report it via the Environment Agency’s Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60 or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.



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The Liberal Democrat General Election campaign has got off to a flying start as new members have seen the party double in size since May 2015.



News story: £15 million investment in new technologies of the future

Innovative businesses across the UK have received a £15 million boost through our emerging and enabling technologies competition. This is to identify and invest in new technologies with the potential to unlock billions of pounds of value to UK industry and disrupt existing markets.

Eighty high-growth potential projects have been successful in being awarded funding, some of which include:

  • Holosphere Ltd will work with Jaguar Land Rover to create an augmented reality car configurator for use in its network of showrooms
  • Archangel Aerospace will develop an ultra lightweight laser receiver terminal to bring vast amounts of data from satellites in a low orbit down to earth quickly and reliably. This will vastly improve the scope and quality of services provided by earth observation and scientific satellites
  • ‘PlasticARMPit’ a joint project involving ARM, PragmatIC Printing, Unilever and the University of Manchester. This will develop a high-performance energy-efficient processing engine to deliver future flexible electronic devices
  • Croda project, which aims to develop advanced antimicrobial coatings to control and prevent biofilm formation that costs the UK economy tens of billions per annum in damage. The project is led by the global market leader in speciality chemicals, Croda, in collaboration with Scanwel and the University of Liverpool, who provide advanced characterisation tools to help optimise the technology and enable its translation to a number of market sectors

Paul Mason, Emerging and Enabling Technologies Director at Innovate UK, said:

The quality and breadth of applications for this competition was excellent. It highlights the appetite and capacity of UK businesses to innovate, and to find new sources of revenue from new products, processes or services.

For a list of winning projects please see the funding competition winners 2017.