UKIP success a victory for common sense

(25 May 2014)

By Ian Brockwell

With all the results now declared in the Council Elections, UKIP have exceeded their initial target of winning 80 seats and eventually ended up almost doubling this figure.

Whilst Labour has also made gains, their progress has been less than expected, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats suffering the most.

It is too soon to say whether UKIP’s success can be converted into winning seats in the General Election next year, but there is no doubt that the main parties will have to change their way of thinking before that happens.

Protest voting is not unusual in elections where the ruling government is not affected and quite often a voter will lose their courage when it matters most, by voting later for either the Conservatives or Labour. Many of the electorate believe the media hype that voting for anyone else is a “wasted vote”. As we have seen from these Council Elections, UKIP has a serious chance of holding the balance of power in the General Election and could even win it, if the voters were prepared to repeat the courage they showed on Thursday.

However, whatever happens next year, the main parties are now aware of the dangers and must respond accordingly. The public are no longer interested in vague promises of what the “usual suspects” will do ‘if’ they are elected, they want guarantees!

For many years the Conservatives and Labour have said they will tackle the problem of immigration, but nothing ever happens and the figures increase (no matter how much they massage them). Obviously, being a part of the EU makes it difficult to enforce certain restrictions and these rules must be changed, or Britain will need to leave.

You can be certain that the Conservatives and Labour do not want Britain to leave the EU and will do everything they can to ensure this does not occur. Cameron has said he will offer the people an “in/out” referendum in 2017, 2 years after the party is elected. This is designed to buy him more time, so that he can obtain some changes to the rules and try and convince Britain to stay in.

I have no doubt that Cameron would be able to obtain some additional power from the EU (if elected again), but these changes will only be cosmetic and could vanish just as easily.

There is no guarantee UKIP can produce the results that many seek, but we have already seen that the others are unable (or unwilling) to make these changes. With this thought in mind, why not give UKIP the opportunity. How much worse could it be?

 

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