Pirates A-hoy!

It would appear that the Pirate Party UK are planning on standing in the General Election and hoping to take votes from UKIP.

I say this for I read this morning that they've been using their complete failure to understand European legilsation and the pretend Parliament to try to 'name and shame' UKIP MEPs who voted against a resolution in Strasbourg.

Opposition to the secret ACTA treaty is spreading like wildfire. Today the members of the European Parliament had their say, as on a resolution against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, arguing that it flouts agreed EU laws on counterfeiting and piracy online. MEPs will go to the Court of Justice if the EU does not reject the leaked proposals which include draconian powers to censor the internet and disconnect net connections.

UKIP have been against ACTA for quite a while now, without the help of the Pirate Party who are happily aligned with the Greens in the European Parliament. It's a Polly conundrum here: Do they just not understand the difference between different tools in the European Parliament and that resolutions have no power or are they just being mendacious? Do they also not understand that UKIP, by virtue of wanting democratic decisions to be made in democratic parliaments, do not accept the authority of EU legislation?

The fact that they're sitting with the Greens means that they must be full of shit to a certain degree. But perhaps they just haven't got to grips with how the system works? Either way, I am here to set the record straight so the Pirate Party UK can apologise...

UKIP's members of the EU's consultative assembly will certainly vote against ACTA.

We have some difficulty in endorsing the resolution and written declaration, which you mention, owing to their implied recognition of ACTA as a valid agreement, concluded by legitimate authorities.

UKIP does not recognise ACTA as valid, because the EU is not a legitimate authority, and, as I have said, we shall certainly oppose it.

So there you are, Pirates. If you want a lesson in how it works I'm sure I could oblige and would be much more helpful than Caroline bloody Lucas and the assorted collection of those who knit their own knickers and want us all to live in caves.