This UKIP want to paint a picture that they are the only party talking about immigration (the fact that they are talking a lot of rubbish about it doesn't seem to bother them either) When the reality is that all the parties are talking about immigration, but it's the only thing that UKIP want to talk about.
The Tories realised the growing unease surrounding immigration at the last election and set out some ridiculous targets without any workable ideas on how to achieve those numbers. They've since basically admitted they don't have a clue how to get immigration numbers down. This move by the Tories was an early attempt to snuff out the UKIP following. The fact that they have delivered such a wildly different solution to the one they promised it's hard to agree that they've been open about it. As for labour a memo sent out to campaigners was recently leaked that told them to avoid talking about immigration and move conversation onto a topic they feel more comfortable discussing. So labour seem to be actively trying to avoid the subject. Maybe my wording was slightly poor and I should of said they are the party to make immigration a key issue at this election, so it's no wonder that Nick Griffon who was head of a party who had immigration as there single key issue would vote for UKIP. There are plenty of sensible, non-racist people who would like a discussion on how we manage immigration in this country. Naturally if one party is very openly discussing immigration and changing the way it works or reducing numbers, a certain racist element will be attracted to the party. This doesn't make the ideals behind it, racist, it means a section of followers are racist. There are plenty of racist labour supporters I know, does that mean I think the Labour Party are all racists? Or anyone who votes for them are racist? Jimmy saville was a Tory, do I think all conservatives and those who vote for them are now ****philes? No. There are unsavoury characters and stupid comments from politicians of all parties and supporters of all parties. Tarring them all with the same brush is foolish. UKIP have a large following in the country and it's because there focus is on a couple of areas a lot of people have concern with. Immigration is a part of it and a vote winner amongst certain circles, but pulling out of the EU is the big one for a lot of UKIP voters who aren't remotely racist. None of the big parties have shown a real desire to give the people a choice on our EU membership except UKIP and until that referendum happens I expect UKIP will continue to grow in strength. Personally I couldn't care less if a load of racists also vote for them or if occasionally farage comes out with some really stupid **** as he also hits the nail on the head with Europe. There are some brilliant videos of him predicting the situation in Portugal, Spain and Greece while the rest of the EU continued to make stupid decisions. For all his faults he has some very valid opinions too. And a lot of the people attracted to the party are not Nick Griffon types.
Given the turnout in the Euro elections and UKIP's share of the vote it's fair to say we do not live in a country of ultra right racists
Then you're getting a very inaccurate impression. Personally my view is that we should have a points based immigration system whereby non-EU and EU immigrants have an equal footing and we take people in based on what they will contribute to the country, not based on where they live. I hold the opinion that immigration is a huge benefit to this country and currently we have a system that doesn't take full advantage of the possible benefits. We should have a controlled immigration system. That ranks pretty low on my list of topics which I care about though. I figured my anti-EU stance came through pretty well so far but maybe your unable to distinguish between being anti EU and anti immigration? I'd say immigration sits underneath a handful of other key issues that I feel more strongly about, but I'm a very opinionated person and have views on lots of things... Economics, education, drug reform and the EU are probably the topics I most engage with.
Voter turnout in 2010 was 65%, voter turnout in 2014 was 35%. So definitely a big difference in the amount of people who voted. But approximately 4.5million people voted for UKIP in the EU elections. That's about 50% of the number of people who voted in the Tories in 2010. It's over 50% of the number of people to vote labour in 2010. That is no small number of people. And geographically the UKIP vote was spread around the entire country, gaining a seat in every location. So clearly the entire country is littered with ultra right racists.
When you have people voting for UKIP and Boris 'Buffoon' Johnson. It's the only reasonable conclusion ....
If you can't see why UKIP are attracting legitimate votes then the idiots might be closer to home than you think People are disillusioned with politics and particularly the main three parties. People feel let down by labour and unable to gain any confidence in Ed. No-one trusts the Tories and lots of people have felt the effects of the cuts. And lib dem voters feel they've been sold out for a brief moment of power. People don't have faith in the conviction of any of the three and find it hard to distinguish between the elite MPs on one side and the same on the other. Politics has become completely out of touch with reality. People who would traditionally stick with one party have found themselves questioning who they will vote for and young people don't trust any of them. During this stage of politics UKIP have been refreshingly blunt with there opinions and taken a strong stance on certain topics even if they aren't popular with everyone. They appeal to the protest voter, the euro sceptic, the working man and the Tory-esque through different policies. I'd imagine lots of people who vote for them disagree with certain ideas within the party whilst feeling strongly about others. It's for lots of the same reasons above that the Green Party and SNP have become viable parties to vote for. The political landscape is ripe for parties who hold clear views on individual issues to gain popularity and personally I think the political system will be better off for it. We need real opinions being discussed rather than topics being avoided because they are contentious with sections of the voting public.
I don't agree with many of your views, particularly when it comes to politics, but I do think you are bang on the money about the smaller parties gaining more popularity due to disillusionment with the Big Two/Three, regardless of whether it's UKIP, SNP, Greens etc. Something that has not been mentioned, but I think is part of the problem is the FPTP system though. It is easy to use, but it isn't representative of the majority of the population and so there are a lot of wasted votes out there. It's hard to engage people with such a shoddy system in place for the General Election.
I completely agree. It's a real shame that the Lib Dems didn't push for a better option than AV when we had the referendum.
I'm in agreement that the smaller parties getting more votes is a good thing and it will hopefully shake up the status quo in mainstream politics. What I take umbrage to is UKIP themselves, my personal opinion is that they are a popularist party trying to cash in on the unrest regarding immigration. Which is why they are attractive to BNP and NF members.
