UKIP defector: 'I may stand in general election'
Richard Cutcher • Published 19 Jul 2012 16:30
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CONTROVERSIAL Royal Borough councillor Tom Bursnall could stand in Slough on a UK Independence Party (UKIP) ticket at the next general election.
Speaking to The Observer after hosting a lively public meeting in Windsor with UKIP leader Nigel Farage on Friday last week, Cllr Bursnall outlined the future of his Windsor branch and what lies ahead for him.
The Clewer East ward representative said at the meeting at the Macdonald Hotel, in High Street: "I have put my name forward as a potential candidate for the 2012 general election."
Cllr Bursnall, who lives in Windsor, but was born in Chalvey and has family in Slough, added: "I haven't definitively decided that I will run, but it would have to be local and I would not want to run in Windsor against Adam Afriyie.
"Slough would be an obvious choice, but I have got connections to Weybridge and Basingstoke too."
Slough's Labour MP Fiona Mactaggart has represented the town for 15 years and at the 2010 General Election she won 45.8% of the vote to the UKIP candidate's 3.2%.
UKIP took more than 10% of the vote in the council elections in May this year when the party fielded a candidate in each of the 14 contested wards.
It took a damaging chunk out of the Conservative vote, leaving Labour to win every seat.
Turning his attentions to his party's future in Windsor, Cllr Bursnall said he and his wife, Cllr Cat Bursnall, with whom he defected to UKIP from the Conservatives in March, were planning to target five to seven seats in Windsor and Ascot.
He added: "Our next stage is to build on this meeting. We need to select some candidates and run hard in the wards we choose.
"There is no point running in every single ward and getting beaten all over the place. We will be clever about it."
This article appeared in Slough Observer 19 Jul 12
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