The rise and rise of UKIP...

...Is an utter embarrassment to this country. 

Mark Reckless (great name) won the seat for Rochester and Strood last night, and continued UKIP's emergence as a major player in the upcoming election.

From my view All UKIP are doing is building on the xenophobia already promoted by rags like the Daily Mail. Why are they continuing to grow? Nobody I've worked with/lived with/come into contact with would ever dream of voting UKIP, so who's voting for them and why? I'm genuinely interested to hear peoples views, if it's a protest vote why UKIP? Why not the Green Party who actually promote some decent, fresh values? Or is it just Farage's personality?

Reckless said himself he'd want to send back Polish workers living in Rochester - in spite of the facts which show EU migrants have benefited the UK economy overall. How can people vote for nonsense? 

Here's Labour MP Dennis Skinner having a rant at Reckless and Carswell just before the former was sworn in today, good on him - 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-mp-dennis-skinner-takes-ukip-mp-mark-reckless-to-task-moments-after-he-is-sworn-in-9875957.html

People are fed up and are using the UKIP vote to express their annoyance. At this rate we will have another hung parliament next time around.

If I see one more picture of Farage holding a pint of beer,and smirking happily into the camera,I'll retire to the loft.

Reebok Trotter wrote:People are fed up and are using the UKIP vote to express their annoyance. At this rate we will have another hung parliament next time around.

I get being fed up with mainstream polotics, I am too. But why vote for a party with such backwards views? There are better options out there.

Labour made a big mistake in giving the leadership to Ed instead of his brother David. I don't think the populace have enough confidence in Ed to put him in the top job. That only leaves Cameron because Cleggy and the Lib Dems are a busted flush.

I fully understand why disgruntled Tories are swayed by UKIP, after all UKIP are a right of centre political party made up of disgruntled Tories. (Farage, the Hamiltons and the two that jumped ship) They appeal to the far right.

However it is beyond my comprehension how any Labour voter can decide to jump from the left/ centre of the political spectrum over to the far right with UKIP.

Either they are idiots or do not in any way understand politics.

I think Blair is partly to blame. I gave him my vote but he turned out to be a scheming conniving bugger. After the fiasco with Saddam and the war in Iraq on the strength of him having WMD, which turned out to be bullshit, I lost faith in the Labour movement.

Blair ended 18 years of Tory Rule for that i will always be eternally grateful, He made Labour electable he did a lot of good, he F upped as you say Trotter over Saddam but it doesn't mean it was all bad.

Comparing By-Election and local Council Election results to General Elections is like comparing apples with wheelbarrows.

Folk have always used them to lodge their protest against the policies of the government of the day.

It used to be the Lib Dems but ever since they sold their soul and got in bed with the Tories at the last general election, people have seen through them and realised that they were only ever a bit-part player in the British political system who would abandon all their principles at the first sniff of power, hence why they are suffering so badly now and lost their deposit (again) last night.

(Which is a shame because when the "Gang of Four" (I found that essence rare - top post-punk tune) set up the SDP, I actually thought they'd found a way to tap into the disenfranchisement felt by traditional Labour voters, disillusioned with failed socialist policies after the Winter of Discontent and moderate Tories who weren't completely down with Thatcher's "Fuck you, I'll stab you if you get in my way!" mentality and they were going to be a serious third party in British politics. But it never happened. I've always liked Paddy Ashdown because he's always struck me as a bloke who talked sense and Vince Cable is a brilliant economist but Clegg has thrown it all away in one fell swoop. The Liberals are fucked and it will take them a long time to recover.)

So.........

...we get Blokey Nige with a pint of bitter in his hand and his "I know you lot hate Brussels and foreigners coming over here taking our jobs and so do I, despite the fact that my wife's a schnitzel-munching Kraut" two-faced bollocks.

They will get fuck all in the General Election because, when push comes to shove, people will default back to the two main parties.

But at least the recent rise in UKIP's popularity has brought the whole immigration debate to the table and made it ok to discuss.

And that's not a bad thing.......

I'm voting UKIP, everyone i know is voting them too.

wessy wrote:I fully understand why disgruntled Tories are swayed by UKIP, after all UKIP are a right of centre political party made up of disgruntled Tories. (Farage, the Hamiltons and the two that jumped ship) They appeal to the far right.

However it is beyond my comprehension how any Labour voter can decide to jump from the left/ centre of the political spectrum over to the far right with UKIP.

Either they are idiots or do not in any way understand politics.

It is totally beyond my comprehension why anyone would vote Labour. They were fucking terrible last time they were in power, bringing the country to its knees. If they were still in charge I have no doubt we'd be another Greece.

When I hear people saying "they always vote Labour" or "my family has always voted Labour" I really fear for this country. You should vote for the party that is best on the day, not the party your granddad voted for 50 years ago.

bwfc1874 wrote: Nobody I've worked with/lived with/come into contact with would ever dream of voting UKIP, so who's voting for them and why?

That made me laugh, good joke.

Either you only know two people, or you've lost touch with reality. Half the people you know would vote UKIP today if there was an election.

bwfc1874 wrote:

Reckless said himself he'd want to send back Polish workers living in Rochester - in spite of the facts which show EU migrants have benefited the UK economy overall. How can people vote for nonsense? 

If you were, say, 50 years old and your job was under threat from cheaper Polish workers do you think you might feel a little differently?

I'm voting UKIP because I want out of the EU and I want to kick all the foreigners out. Easy to jump on the "racist" bandwagon but keeping foreigners out doesn't seemed to have harmed Australia much.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

bwfc1874 wrote:

 keeping foreigners out doesn't seemed to have harmed Australia much.

wessy wrote:Blair ended 18 years of Tory Rule for that i will always be eternally grateful, He made Labour electable he did a lot of good, he F upped as you say Trotter over Saddam but it doesn't mean it was all bad.

Totally agree that Blair made Labour electable and ended 18 years of Tory rule BUT he then turned into a Tory himself. His foreign policy (= kiss American arse) was a disaster. He introduced no socialist policies and the gap between the rich and the poor grew faster than ever. Under him Gordon Brown gave the City everything they wanted (the so-called light touch) and this led to the financial meltdown caused by greedy and still unpunished bankers.

And just look at his money grabbing ways now to see the true measure of the man.

At the end of the day they are all scumbags.

I don't believe that UKIP will hold the balance of power in the next election. The Lib Dems will be wiped out as they have been a disgrace. They seem to actually believe that they were elected to govern when in fact they talked to both major parties to see which would let them join. They're political whores. I'm fed up with Clegg and his ilk saying that they will stop this policy or that policy because they disagree with it. They're makeweights, a minor party- and they will get exactly what they deserve next time round- virtually wiped out.
UKIP will do better- but only have a handful of seats- lots of seconds and thirds. But seconds and thirds are still losers. They don't count

It'll be SNP who will probably hold the balance of power. Both major parties are deeply unpopular north of the border- Cameron has failed to deliver the 'pledges' he and Milliband made at the Referendum and Labour will be severely reduced next May. The Tories are non-existent in Scotland
We'll have about 30 SNP MPS- probably enough to influence( perhaps control)  policy making in Westminster.
Interesting times. Whatever happens it looks like the majority party will be held to ransom by a minority party, possibly a one issue party, and that makes for difficult government.

rammywhite wrote:I don't believe that UKIP will hold the balance of power in the next election. The Lib Dems will be wiped out as they have been a disgrace. They seem to actually believe that they were elected to govern when in fact they talked to both major parties to see which would let them join. They're political whores. I'm fed up with Clegg and his ilk saying that they will stop this policy or that policy because they disagree with it. They're makeweights, a minor party- and they will get exactly what they deserve next time round- virtually wiped out.
UKIP will do better- but only have a handful of seats- lots of seconds and thirds. But seconds and thirds are still losers. They don't count

It'll be SNP who will probably hold the balance of power. Both major parties are deeply unpopular north of the border- Cameron has failed to deliver the 'pledges' he and Milliband made at the Referendum and Labour will be severely reduced next May. The Tories are non-existent in Scotland
We'll have about 30 SNP MPS- probably enough to influence( perhaps control)  policy making in Westminster.
Interesting times. Whatever happens it looks like the majority party will be held to ransom by a minority party, possibly a one issue party, and that makes for difficult government.

It might be a good thing because I firmly believe that you do need a strong party in opposition.

I'm surprised that the Green Party don't attract more of the votes of the disillusioned. I would have thought that they represent a more ethical choice than the presently grotesque alternatives.

okocha wrote:I'm surprised that the Green Party don't attract more of the votes of the disillusioned. I would have thought that they represent a more ethical choice than the presently grotesque alternatives.

They do but some of their policies are inconsistent and frankly mad. They oppose GM crops despite the rest of the world outside the EU having used them without any problems. They oppose nuclear energy despite it being the least damaging source of electricity as far as global warming is concerned. And they do mad things like this:

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEMQqQIwBA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.standard.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Fgreen-party-leader-natalie-bennett-spent-350-on-trains-across-europe-because-she-objected-to-flying-to-conference-9872543.html&ei=XWBwVKD4LYzhavfxgMgD&usg=AFQjCNF0woDjTsD5fpPSNUhDjdLaX6WdsA&sig2=cpUPu_9s3x6y50IZW7tf1g&bvm=bv.80185997,d.d2s