Ukip leader refuses to be drawn on which Tees seats party will target in General Election :: Also pledges more Ukip councillors in the region
Nigel Farage has called for a return to industrial power of Teesside's heritage - but wouldn't say if Ukip will be targeting the area in 2015.
The UK Independence Party leader took to Yarm high street on St George’s Day.
And Mr Farage later told the Gazette that he believes the single biggest political issue facing Teessiders is unemployment.
“Jobs are the most important thing to the people of Teesside," he added.
"In this area, you have a lot of entrepreneurial small businesses that want to get rid of the red tape of the EU and employ young people.
“There is an industrial heritage here. I don’t want it to be a heritage any more. I want to bring industry back.”
Ukip leader Nigel Farage visits Yarm
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Mr Farage would not be drawn on whether Ukip would target any seats on Teesside in next year’s general election.
But he promised that the North-east would return a Ukip MEP - and that more councillors would be joining Teesside’s only Ukip councillor, Stockton’s Mark Chatburn.
“The North-east is the fastest growing area for Ukip support in the country, but we have to get our foot on the first rung of the ladder,” he continued.
Mr Farage has this week been criticised for Ukip’s national poster campaign which claim Europeans are targeting British jobs, which have been branded racist.
But Mr Farage said that Ukip was ready to cause an “earthquake in British politics” in the upcoming European elections by targeting “patriotic, Old Labour voters in the North”.
And Ted Strike, Ukip's candidate for Stockton South, said: “I’ve been helping those in the area most affected by Chernobyl in Belarus since 1996, and I want to dig a well in India - on the condition that people of all religions can use it. But apparently we’re all racists.”
Mr Farage yesterday dropped in at Yarm Butchers to pick up some bacon and sausages and buying a red rose at Diana Kaye florists.
He then retired to the Black Bull to enjoy a pint of Proper Job bitter, before heading off to Gateshead last night to speak in front of more than 1,000 people at the Sage.
He said: “I’ve fallen in love with the place, Yarm is fantastic - although with the butchers and the florists, and now the pub, I’ve spent far too much money here already.”
Meanwhile, Labour's Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls is due to visit Redcar today.
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