Cornwall reform candidate injured in ‘attack’ says incident won’t stop him

The UK Reform candidate for the Truro and Falmouth constituency says an alleged attack during the Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival on Saturday, which he says left him with ligament damage, will not put him off running for election. Steve Rubidge, a GWR train driver, said bullying was a “worrying trend” in politics but he would continue to campaign.

The incident, which is being investigated by police, happened at 1.15pm in Grove Place, near Events Square, after Mr Rubidge was confronted by a youth. The candidate, who lives near St Austell, said he was treated in hospital for “bad ligament damage” to his ankle after he was kicked and punched by the man, who took Mr Rubidge’s bag containing his wallet and the car key as well as the choices. Flyers.

He explained what happened to us: “I thought I’d do a bit of campaigning at the sea shanty festival – I’ll go and hand out some leaflets to get my name out there. I was there for five minutes with some supporters and the guy came up and asked what was going on. He said he didn’t know who the Reform were. I was sitting in the archway leading to the Events Square and he said to me: “It’s a bit windy here, do you want to talk. there’, so you lured me away from everyone else.”

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“He seemed a bit upset, he wasn’t drunk or on drugs. I think he was just an angry individual. Then he said, “What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here, I think you should *** “Off” I thought, this took a turn.

Mr Rubidge added: “He then said that Reform UK was using immigrants as a scapegoat. I said that was his opinion, but we could talk about it. Then he started abusing me. I had to get out of the situation, but in the nicest way. possible without making him angrier. Two of his friends appeared and fueled his fire, then they started telling me where to go, cursing me, I said, “I’m sorry we can’t agree on everything, have a day hello’ at which point he said ‘don’t run from it’ and ran in front of me and took all my stuff.

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“I had everything in one bag, including all my personal items, my wallet, my car key and all my campaign stuff. He took the lot and went through the Events Square. My initial thought was that he was going to throw it in the water. I had a 400m race, he’s about 19 and I’m 50, so I had to run faster to catch the guy. I yelled at him to drop my bag as I approached him, but he didn’t and I made him grab it.

“Unfortunately, he fell against a van and on the floor. I grabbed my things, but then he started punching and punching me. Then he masked himself and disappeared. Now I’m accused of assaulting him. Le- I told the police I wasn’t assaulting him, I had to grab him and unfortunately he fell because I was running, I don’t know why he did it – I guess he thought he was going to take my campaign material and that he would stop me from handing out leaflets. My belongings were in that bag. The guy stole my things.”

Mr Rubidge says he has been accused of racism in social media posts about the incident. I saw a post, which has since been deleted, that read “Racist Reform Candidate Assaults Teen”.

He told us: “I’m being called a racist in posts about this – that’s people who interpret immigration reform policy as racist. It’s crazy – they don’t know the facts. I would suggest that people who believe this have a debate. We can agree to disagree, but don’t end up breaking the law trying to get your point across.

“It’s a worrying trend that some people, especially young people, think this is the way to solve things rather than talking about them. Later in the day, a lot of other young people turned up and we had a good debate – that’s what democracy is.”

Reform UK chairman Richard Tice spoke about the incident on X/Twitter, saying: “I am appalled to hear of the attack and assault on our candidate, Steve Rubidge, who is standing for the Truro and Falmouth constituency. He was attacked, it was reported. at the police his bag was taken, really bad.

“That’s no way to have a democratic debate and discussion. We can disagree, but we’re not fighting each other. That’s not what our democracy is about. We’re going to make sure the police prosecute. This This has to stop. It’s completely unacceptable.”

The incident came days after stones were thrown at reform leader Nigel Farage. Mr Rubidge said: “It happened to Nigel, who obviously has a much higher profile than I will ever have. Just because you don’t like Nigel… you’re not voting for Nigel Farage, you’re voting for the party. and their policies.

“I had to take time off yesterday at my wife’s behest more than anything. I couldn’t put weight on my ankle, but I’ve got more campaigns to do. I’m not letting myself get sidetracked. This won’t stop- me.”

Police investigations are ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident. Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information is asked to contact Devon and Cornwall Police quoting 50240146510.