The delusion of UKIP
I have just heard UKIP’s interim leader Jeremy Titford on the Radio 4′s Today programme, desperately trying to keep the party relevant. UKIP must be very disappointed with their performance in the General Election, as not only did they fail to take a seat, but there were no ‘Jimmy Goldsmith’ moments.
So with UKIP’s influence at Westminster at a low, I was surprised to hear Titford claim that UKIP’s policies were at the heart of the coalition government. This seemed to be based on the fact that the Lib Dems had taken UKIP’s idea of raising the tax thresholds to take more people out of tax and that the Tories had pinched their idea of localism.
Oh please, Mr Titford. UKIP was and remains an irrelevance in Westminster politics and long may it remain so.
Related posts:
- UKIP offer to disband in favour of Conservative referendum pledge
- Don't let the charmers break your heart
Comments
03 September 2010, 10:02 am
It’s interesting, although I haven’t concluded whether it’s significant or coincidental, that the two right wing ‘parties’ are in a mess largely of their own making but also. as you note, because the voters pretty well completely discounted them when it came to a crunch election. There’s little doubt that the electorate sadly does not see elections to the European Parliament as being on the same level as those to the local council and this might explain why UKIP and the BNP are given an artifically high vote because it’s not seen as mattering. More worrying might be the thought that it’s what a quite large number of voters really believe but don’t put into effect for domestic elections.
03 September 2010, 11:46 am
I would hardly describe a 50% increase in UKIP’s share of the General Election vote to nearly 1 million votes as disappointing or irrelevant. It is actually quite impressive for such a recently established party. More disappointing and irrelevant is the continued use of the archaic “First Past The Post” system. If we had used Proportional Representation in the last General Election, then UKIP would have 20 MPs now.
The people of this country are realising the irrelevance of wasting their votes on the LibLabCon, who are essentially all EUrophiles, happy to continue handing over what little remaining sovereignty we have to the unelected, authoritarian, highly paid, political elite, called the Commissioners in Brussels, whilst at the same time our membership of this unaccountable political club costs the UK at least £65bn every year.
04 September 2010, 12:14 am
Chris is right – UKIP secured nearly 3 times as many votes as the Greens but, due to vagaries of FPTP, the Greens won a seat at Westminster whilst UKIP didn’t. The coalition writes off a million voters at their peril, especially considering how support for the Lib Dems has plummeted since the election.
Richard: “…voters really believe but don’t put into effect for domestic elections” – of course they don’t because they know FPTP is such an unrepresentative and undemocratic farce.
Now if we had true PR… Lib Dems, be careful what you wish for.