Gerard Batten MEP

Gerard Batten (born 1954) is a British UK Independence Party Member of the European Parliament. He currently represents London.

ACTA

Mr. Batten was an outspoken opponent of ACTA. Speaking in the European Parliament, Mr. Batten stated;

"I have had literally hundreds, if not thousands, of emails from around the world on this subject and at least 99.99% of them ask me to vote against it. I can assure these people, and particularly my constituents in London, that I and my UKIP colleagues will vote against ACTA. One element of ACTA that particularly concerns me is the criminalisation of offences under Article 23. Now of course genuine copyright and intellectual property rights infringements must be prevented and owners rights [sic] protected. But the European Union is creating its own comprehensive police state...criminalisation opens up all kinds of sinister possibilities for suppressing free speech and alternative points of view. We only need to look at the case of Julian Assange to see where that can lead."

He concluded by saying;

"All things considered, I urge my colleagues here to vote against ACTA."

In a separate interview, he stated he was concerned by ACTA because "it passes from civil law to criminal law."

In the final vote, Mr. Batten voted against ACTA.