The three main political parties in Britain lack honesty and integrity
and cannot be trusted.

That is the prevailing view of the UK Independence Party's North East Beds candidate Brian Capell, who says the public have a lack of faith in Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats – and have lost faith in politics as a result.

Mr Capell, 66, who lives in Wymington, believes he can offer voters a fresh and more inspired choice of MP, who is not afraid to tackle the big issues.

He said: "The three main parties do not offer very much, and the policies they do have are very similar on the whole – I wanted to stand as a UKIP candidate as I believe the party stands for something a little different and has policies on the issues that matter."

Retired financial advisor Mr Capell, who previously worked as a headteacher at Woodside Middle School in Bedford and also as a deputy head at Henlow Middle School, is no stranger to politics.

During his career in teaching he was a member of the UK's largest teachers' union, NASUWT, serving as treasurer and as president of the Bedfordshire branch for a year.

Mr Capell has also been a member of Wymington Parish Council for 25 years.

Immigration is one of Mr Capell's priority issues, but he insists that
race does not come into it.

He said: "There are simply too many immigrants coming into Britain at the moment, but it's not about race, it's about space.

"If you look at the size of France compared to the size of the UK, and
consider that there are 100 people per square kilometre there and 400
people per square kilometre here.

"We just cannot sustain this level of immigration in the long term."

Europe, of course, has always been the defining issue for UKIP, and Mr Capell says Britain's ties with Brussels need to be loosened.

He said: "More than 70 per cent of our laws are now made in Brussels,
which is unacceptable.

"Although I do not want Britain in the EU I am happy to be part of
the European Common Market, however."

The threshold on income tax should also be changed to encourage long-term benefit claimants to get back to work, Mr Capell added.

"Changes also need to be made to the benefits system generally, as
there are a lot of people claiming benefits who don't really need to.

"A system that involves 72 benefits surely needs simplifying."