Welcome

Hello, my name is Olly Neville. I am the current Young Independence Social Media Director and former Elections Officer (for my full UKIP resume please see the About Olly section).

I am proud to be YI's continuity candidate and to receive the backing of our fantastic former Chairman Harry Aldridge. I am standing for Chairman to build upon Harry's legacy. My policies and manifesto for YI can be found under the policies tab, but I will here briefly outline why I am standing and what I believe is the best way to take our party forward. If you have any questions or wish to back my campaign please do send me an email via the contact me section.

Young Independence is not just leaflet fodder for the main party. We have grown so much in the last few years and it would be a travesty to throw away so much progress by turning YI into a cliquey campaigning group. I want to make being a member of Young Independence enjoyable instead of being a chore. YI is no longer the small group it once was; we cannot expect new members to be heavily active without first bringing them into the fold with social activities. I want to expand the number of social activities YI hold up and down the country, as well as encouraging as many new members as possible to come to trips to Westminster, Brussels, Strasbourg and beyond. These should not just be held for elitist groups, but to build links and friendships amongst YI members which will encourage more people to get involved and active.

Another branch of my plan to make YI more accessible is to focus on building up the regions and set up regional branches, using YI Yorkshire as an example. There are already moves to do this in London as well as in the West Midlands and I want to see this rolled out across the country. YI needs to be more focused on the regions, not more centralised. It needs to be easy for new members to have a point of contact with a local YI representative, and for them to easily build links with local like-minded people.