UKIP defends controversial child abuse election posters

All four candidates in Thursday’s PCC election have vowed to make tackling child sex exploitation their top priority, but UKIP candidate Jack Clarkson raised the stakes with the controversial billboard design.

The poster, launched in Rotherham on Saturday, features a teenage girl with the line: “There are 1,400 reasons why you should not trust Labour again”, referring to the 1,400 children Prof Alexis Jay estimated in her August report had been abuse victims in the town between 1997 and 2013.

Barnsley MP Dan Jarvis accused UKIP of a “cynical and deliberate” exploitation the victims, adding: “This poster marks a new and unacceptable low in their recent campaign activity.”

But Mr Clarkson said: “"It is a sad fact that the people have been let down by the Labour Party across South Yorkshire.

“Politicians, both at the Town Halls and in uniform for years, were more worried about fashionable ideas than about protecting our young in their own towns and streets”.

Yorkshire MEP Jane Collins, who will stand in Rotherham in next year’s general election, said: “These posters are certainly hard-hitting, but they bring home a simple truth, a truth that is spoken in far harsher terms than this in the shops, bars, and clubs across the region.

“You just cannot trust Labour to do its duty. Jack Clarkson will be a force to be reckoned with in bringing the communities together and rebuilding the trust so desperately needed between our police and our citizens”.

Mr Clarkson will be up against Labour’s Dr Alan Billings, the English Democrats David Allen and Conservative Ian Walker in Thursday’s election.

For profiles of all the candidate, visit http://www.choosemypcc.org.uk/candidates/area/south-yorkshire.

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