Education
Etheridge was educated at Parkfield High School, Wolverhampton Polytechnic (now Wolverhampton University) and Dudley College. He finished fourth with 17,563 votes (737%).
Member of the European Parliament politician
Etheridge was educated at Parkfield High School, Wolverhampton Polytechnic (now Wolverhampton University) and Dudley College. He finished fourth with 17,563 votes (737%).
He was elected in 2014. Etheridge stood in the 2012 Police and Crime Commissioner elections for West Midlands Police. In 2014, as well as being elected to European Parliament, Etheridge was also elected as a local councillor for the Sedgley ward on Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, unseating a Conservative councillor in the process.
In the General Election, in May 2015, Etheridge stood as UKIP"s parliamentary candidate for Dudley North.
He finished third with a vote of 9,113, triple that of the vote in 2010. At 24% of the votes cast, it also represented double the national average for UKIP. He has written to and urged the current Conservative government to increase the power of the Asset of Community Value, brought in as part of the Localism Acting 2011.
This would, if effective, enable local communities to acquire their local pubs and prevent their loss to convenience stores and the like. Etheridge also sits on the European Union Regional Development Committee, and his belief that power should be handed back to communities has also seen him emerge as a leading critic of the spread of combined authorities.
Etheridge is an associate of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
In August 2014 Etheridge sparked controversy by praising Hitler during a public speaking seminar he gave to members of the UKIP youth wing. Etheridge, who is also a member of CAMRA, has been instrumental in the West Midlands Save The Public campaign.
