UKIP heading for clear victory in UK European elections

[devils chaplain]

Source: BBC

UKIP is course for an emphatic victory in the European elections in the UK - with leader Nigel Farage promising to use it as a springboard for next year's general election.

Labour's vote is up significantly on 2009 but it is vying with the Tories for second place.

The Lib Dems have come fifth behind the Green Party in most areas and have lost all but one of their seats.

Only Scotland, London and Northern Ireland have yet to declare.

UKIP has topped the poll in six of the nine regions to have declared so far, with their strongest performance coming in the East Midlands, where their vote was up 16.5%

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-27567744

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Is this just an anti-EU protest vote, or is this party whom I've never heard of until last week really some kind of national juggernaut to be feared in national elections? If so, what does it stand for besides increased isolationism?

[octoberlib]

1. I'd be interested in the answer to this, too.

Are they comparable to the Tea Party? Is austerity the main thing driving their popularity or is it more complicated than that?

[PaulaFarrell]

10. They are primarily anti-EU and anti-immigration

Hence the name UK Independence Party. not really sure what their other policies are as that's what gets all the news.

[DallasNE]

2. Tony Blair Took Labour Down

And the current Tory leader has put the UK through 3 recessions so where do UK voters turn? Is this new party like the Tea Party with a libertarian bent? This is the first I have heard of them. How much is race and religion playing key roles in this election cycle?

[octoberlib]

4. They've been around since 1993.

The UK Independence Party (UKIP /ˈjuːkɪp/) is a Eurosceptic[7][8] right-wing populist[9] political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1993. The party describes itself in its constitution as a "democratic, libertarian party"[10] and, as of May 2014, is reported to have a membership of over 38,000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Independence_Party

[dipsydoodle]

12. Not a defense of Cameron but he didn't become Prime Minister until 2010

The recessions started following the 2007 financial collapse caused largely by the antics of US financial institutions. He had inherited misplaced policies of the Labour government which compounded the situation here in the UK.

[DallasNE]

13. Cameron Did Take Office 15 Months After Obama Took Office

So the first and steepest recession happened before he came into office and I did not point that out but the later recessions did occur under Cameron's leadership and his austerity policies clearly contributed to the UK's economic woes.

I looked up Cameron's Wikipedia page and found this interesting comment embedded "Cameron has accused the UK Independence Party of being "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists, mostly,". I was surprised at how moderate Cameron is with the exception of his isolationist views. Further reading strongly suggests that the American Tea Party has been patterned after UKIP and Europeans look at UKIP as a fascist organization -- anybody paying attention.

[octoberlib]

3. Here's some info

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Independence_Party


Taxation and economy
UKIP proposes cuts in corporation taxes and the abolition of inheritance taxes.[100][101] The abolition of inheritance tax would save taxpayers about £3bn a year.[citation needed] A flat rate of tax and the abolition of national insurance are advocated by UKIP, which it says will simplify the tax system, although it is unclear at what rate the flat tax would be set.[102] UKIP proposes "tens of billions" of cuts to taxation, along with a further £77bn of cuts to the public sector in order to reduce the deficit.[102] The economic plans outlined by UKIP have been called into question by The Times, who have highlighted a “£120 billion black hole” in their spending plans.[103]

Health
According to the party website, UKIP proposes directing the majority of health care spending to elected County Health Boards, making spending decisions directly accountable to the public locally;[104][105] as well as dramatically cutting the Department of Health and bringing in professional procurement skills to reduce what UKIP says are the huge amounts of money wasted in procurement and resource allocation.[104] In addition, UKIP proposes introducing a voucher system that will enable people to receive treatment outside of the NHS, replace non-clinical managers with matrons to run NHS hospitals and introduce free dental and eye checks

European Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe
UKIP wants to repeal the Human Rights Act, and remove Britain from both the European Convention on Refugees and the European Convention on Human Rights to "enable us to deport foreign criminal and terrorist suspects where desirable" while still "allow[ing] genuine asylum applications in accordance with our international obligations".[110][111]

The Monarchy
UKIP fully supports the British Monarchy and its Constitutional role.[112] It opposes disestablishment of the Church of England and will consider a transfer of part of the Crown Estates back to the Monarchy, in exchange for an end to annual State support.[1

Energy, environment and climate change
UKIP are sceptical of man-made climate change and oppose the creation of wind farms and investment in other renewable energy sources.[4] In 2010, UKIP stated that they would seek to have a Royal Commission investigate whether or not climate change is man-made, to scrap wind farm subsidies, ban the showing of the global warming film An Inconvenient Truth in schools, and ban use of public money by local authorities on climate change-related efforts.[123] UKIP's 2013 energy policy document states that global warming is part of a natural cycle: "the slight warming in the last hundred years is entirely consistent with well-established, long-term natural climate cycles".

[Helen Borg]

11. In sum, the worst of the worst

[DallasNE]

14. Now We Know Who Fathered The American Tea Party

And in Europe the UKIP is accused of being Fascist so what does that make the Tea Party? Not said in the cut-and-paste but they are also very anti-immigrant with PM Cameron accusing the UK Independence Party of being "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists, mostly,".

[Lenomsky]

5. UKIP ...

Yes an anti-EU protest vote they will not be the 3rd party in local or general elections however they may steal a few seats here and there as Lib Dems are done I hope for sleeping with the enemy.

BBC gave them too much coverage and it influenced people in my opinion but with a 33% average turnout people are seriously disenfranchised.

[octoberlib]

9. When there's low voter turn-out, it's an advantage for the right.

Same thing over here.

[blkmusclmachine]

6. Oh, my.

[DeSwiss]

7. You've not heard of NIGEL!!!!

- Whether you agree with him or not, he's fun to watch. Enjoy!

K&R

[Nye Bevan]

16. "I don't want to be rude.... but you have the charisma of a damp rag"

[mackerel]

8. They say it's the EU but honestly their biggest thing is they're

anti-immigrant. Which is rich considering Farage's wife is German and he found her a right nice job in UKIP.

[Spider Jerusalem]

15. Ukip were the second-largest party in the last European elections in 2009.

They only polled 3% at the general election a year later and didn't send a single MP to Westminster. It's a protest vote. Nationwide turnout in the European elections was around 32%. Turnout for the general election was 65%. They may at most end up splitting the Tory vote by drawing some of the Eurosceptic right, but they won't be a spoiler and probably won't elect any MPs next year, either.

[T_i_B]

19. UKIP always do best at European Elections

That's where their anti-EU schtick is of most relevence. And looking at the recent Eurozone crisis and policies such as the Common Agricultural Policy, it's not difficult to see some of their appeal.

However, they are also an extreme right wing party whose platform was predominantly race-baiting and immigrant bashing, and their record in the European Parliament is actually pretty dire.

They have also been helped by the UK media's constant fawning over Nigel Farage.

[Paolo123]

17. I used to live in England, let me chime in please:

UKIP is a free market, anti-EU party.

The major message, and the source of the entertaining Farage videos, is that Brussels holds the ideas of European democracy and European nation states in contempt.

Here's the thing: He is entirely right about that.

Now, there are also I suppose free market people who support him, but there is really no reason why UKIP over the conservatives. Also, the fascist types hate the EU so some have gravitated towards UKIP, which has caused UKIP trouble.

Now, the fact that UKIP did so well here does not mean at all that they will do well in UK parliamentary elections. It is perfectly reasonable for a conservative or labor voter to be a euro-skeptic and vote for UKIP in the EU elections, while at the same time having nothing to do with them in the UK elections.

[Psephos]

18. Informative post. Thanks. n/t