Young Independence
| Young Independence | |
|---|---|
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|
| Leader | David Coburn |
| Deputy Leader | Jill Seymour |
| Chairman | Jamie Ross-McKenzie |
| Deputy Chairman | Katie Fanning |
| Membership |
 3,500 (30 May 2015) |
| Ideology |
Hard Euroscepticism Right-wing populism Economic liberalism Conservatism British unionism |
| Website | http://www.youngindependence.org.uk |
Young Independence (YI) is the youth wing of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and represents all UKIP members under the age of 30.
The wing was formed during the 2007 annual UKIP conference by the then National Executive Committee member Delroy Young. YI was formed to encompass all UKIP members aged thirty-five and under, but is now for those under the age of thirty as the total number of young people in UKIP has grown. A referendum was held during May 2015 to see if the upper age should be lowered from 30 to 25, but this was rejected by 74.2% to 25.8%. With increasing membership, YI started to move towards forming student organisations. However, it faced heavy opposition from the National Union of Students.
Young Independence is run by an Executive Council of elected members. The Executive Council consists of a Chairman, Deputy Chairman, National Coordinator, Treasurer, Secretary, Events Officer and Media Officer. In addition, there is a National Council which consists of the Executive Council, Regional Chairmen (elected by the membership to oversee its county or regional affairs) and the UKIP Students Chairman. Young Independence is led by the National Chairman, Jamie Ross McKenzie, who was elected as (succeeding Joseph Jenkins) in July 2016, with 57% of the vote.
In April 2014, the National Union of Students passed a motion at its National Conference to officially oppose UKIP. In response, on 1 August, UKIP's universities officer, Joseph Jenkins, announced the formation of UKIP Students, a branch of Young Independence dedicated to expanding UKIP's presence in universities, colleges and schools. UKIP Students has its own committee.
In 2013, the YI chairman Olly Neville was fired by the party, reportedly for supporting same-sex marriage. YI's treasurer Allrik Birch, election officer Gareth Shanks, Yorkshire chairman Arnie Craven, and the Yorkshire deputy chairwoman Christina Annesley resigned in protest. Other party members have come out in support of same-sex marriage, however, such as the chairman and prospective Parliamentary candidate in Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, Nathan Garbutt, questioning whether Neville really was removed for supporting the issue at hand: "if he had been removed for favouring gay marriage, the question stands; ‘Why have I not been removed too?’".
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