ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now with last week’s elections out of the way it will come as no surprise that campaigning over Europe will ramp up this week and for many weeks to come.  Tomorrow the Prime Minister will make a speech setting out what he describes as a big, bold, patriotic case for a vote to remain.  I am joined now by a woman who was once seen as the next leader of UKIP until of course she was suspended from the party earlier this year, Suzanne Evans is now a board member of Vote Leave, a very good morning to you.  Big, bold and patriotic, the Prime Minister says you can be that and vote to remain, you disagree I suspect.

SUZANNE EVANS: I think what happens is we need to say that actually the big, bold, patriotic statement is actually to leave the European Union.  To say look, we are the world’s fifth largest economy, we have the language that is exported across the world, we are at the centre of the international time zone, we’ve got a permanent seat on the NATO Security Council, we’re in the G7, the G20, we are a big, bold, strong, patriotic country and so leaving is absolutely the way to go.  Why if we are such a strong powerful country would we want to be shackled to a European Union that is failing?  Look at Schengen, it’s breaking down, the euro is in absolute crisis, why would we shackle ourselves to something that is clearly not successful, has an ever diminishing section of world trade?  Let’s be strong, let’s be bold, let’s be patriotic and vote to leave.

DM: Laying out the background there.  What about the nature of the campaign?  Do you have any views on what I was just discussing with Nadhim Zahawi there and indeed with Emily Thornberry about the nature of the campaign for London Mayor, in particular this issue about Sadiq Khan and some of the platforms he shared, do you think it was legitimate to raise those?

SUZANNE EVANS: I think it was certainly legitimate within the context of pointing it out, I think perhaps the campaign went on for too long to point out exactly the ….

DM: But you know what the tactic was, look at the company he keeps, maybe he thinks that way too.

SUZANNE EVANS: I personally thing we have got the first Muslim Mayor of London, this is a real opportunity for Sadiq Khan to say this is the kind of Muslim that I am, this is how Muslims can be – going back to the proud and patriotic issue, most Muslims that I know are wonderful people, I get on with them very well, we agree on pretty much everything, they are not the extremists by any stretch of the imagination and unfortunately I think the Muslim population has got quite a considerable PR job to do in the light of recent events to actually put Islam forward as a religion that is a very positive one as part of British society and Sadiq has a real  opportunity here to be able to do that.  So for instance he can start to say …

DM: But you have to wait and see if he does that.  

SUZANNE EVANS:  He can start to say I will not address segregated meetings where women are separated from men, I will no longer share a platform with anyone who has any kind of extremist views whatsoever and I hope that is the kind of Mayor that he will be, as he has said a Mayor for all Londoners but one who is also in a unique position as a Muslim to actually try to – I’m not going to tell anybody to reform a faith in any particular way but at least to put forward a very positive revision of Islam that is accessible to everybody.   

DM: Okay but in terms of throwing everything at a campaign, that was part of the question as well and you have already on the Leave side accused the remainers of using the old Project Fear tactics.  Do you think you are going to see more of that, is that what we saw in the Mayoral campaign, do you think it is going to be exported now to the Remain campaign?

SUZANNE EVANS: Well I think certainly the Remain campaign … I am absolutely astonished.  I am someone who is well briefed in these arguments and these issues and I think the thing I find most disappointing about the Remain campaign is that people out there want facts, they are not getting facts from Remain, they are getting lies and they are getting scaremongering.  Look at the security issue that is exposed today with two security agents talking on the Sunday Times.  I mean the arguments surely are self-evidently true, if we are going to be able to control our borders outside the European Union, if we are going to be able to say who can and cannot come into our country without the European Court saying no, you’ve got to let in criminals, potential terrorists, rapists, whoever it might be.  It is self-evidently true that we are going to be much safer and much more secure if we are in control of our borders.

DM: But if we don’t have neighbouring European countries sharing their intelligence with us?  

SUZANNE EVANS: They will and again you’ve absolutely hit the nail on the head there Dermot, this is the main Project Fear argument.  The former Head of MI5 Sir Richard Dearlove has made it quite clear that actually it is bilateral arrangements when it comes to terrorism that count, it’s not about being in the European Union.  If we in London got some intelligence about a terrorist potentially attack in Germany, are we not going to tell the Germans when we are outside the EU?  Of course we are and the same is going to happen the other way as well.  

DM: The last question about you and UKIP, do you think you are going to get back in?  Do you want to get back in, do you want to lead the party one day?  Nigel Farage can’t go on forever.

SUZANNE EVANS: Oh none of us can go on forever in any sort of form in what we do.  Look, I’m appealing, I’m awaiting for a date for my appeal, I am very disappointed it’s taken this long but I am confident that the allegations that were put against me simply won’t stand up to scrutiny.  When the original disciplinary hearing was heard against me I wasn’t there to represent myself so they were taking it on some very spurious evidence and …

DM: Mr Farage told me he had nothing to do with what happened to you.  Do you believe him?  

SUZANNE EVANS: I think Nigel obviously has influence over people and he wasn’t directly involved in my suspension but I suspect that the people, one person in particular who put the allegations against me, I think she and Nigel are rather close, should I put it that way and I suspect there was some influence.  I don’t believe I’m afraid for one moment that Mr Farage had absolutely nothing to do with it but I certainly hope he sticks to his word and stays out of my appeal.  

DM: Suzanne Evans, thank you very much indeed, very good to see you.  Suzanne Evans from Vote Leave.