NialIt’s something I’ve felt quite strongly about and so I’ve tried to put some of my thoughts on paper on the United Kingdom Independence Party. I’m not an encyclopaedia when it comes to politics but I like to think I know the basics.
UKIP the party of “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists” if you’re to believe David Cameron that is.
I’m not denying UKIP have had quite a few unscrupulous characters come and go but you can’t judge a party on it’s past. Especially a party that is only just coming to fruition. It’s been a rocky road to get to where they are today, they have only just properly formed and are still finding their feet. It’s difficult for a party to start up, especially a one that is consistently bashed around by the current order.
UKIP were labelled as racist in the past and some people still try to label them that today as a shoddy way of tarnishing their achievements. You can’t brand the millions of people who voted for them racist. They come from all spectrum’s of the political landscape. Some were former Labour, Tory, Lib Dem or band new voters. UKIP have MEPs and spokespeople of different ethnicity standing up for what they believe in. Even their migration spokesman is mixed race. The word racist is being diluted into being used as an insult just to make people stay clear of a party. Like a stop sign on a newly laid pristine road. The racist label is irrelevant.
Of course there might be the odd idiot voters who may well be racist but all parties have their share of them. It doesn’t mean they share the view or in any way should represent the party. Spokespeople who have expressed opinions on certain subjects have been brought up as the view of the whole party. I’m sorry but everyone is entitled to their own opinion regardless of whether it’s in the parties interests or not. Just like the luxury goods tax that UKIP’s Patrick O’Flynn proposed. Yes proposed. It was something to look into and not an actual part of the manifesto. Farage immediately shot the idea down but that’s all it was, an idea. And UKIP’s representatives have the freedom to express ideas.
Another word thrashed about is ‘protest’. The established parties call UKIP a ‘protest vote’ and the people voting for them are simply throwing their toys out of the pram having a tantrum and will soon come crawling back. You can’t keep treating the voters like it’s a protest because that only angers them even more. Maybe they never intend to vote for any of the other parties because UKIP is the only one that truly appeals to them? Some people have never voted before or haven’t in a long time and UKIP are raising spirits to get out there and make a difference.
The truth is UKIP are the opposition to the Labour party in the North. And Labour need to understand that. Labour have to stop spitting out lies about the opposition. It’s a dirty tactic. The no tax on minimum wage and immigration policies intrigue the electorate. Labour have tried to make up that UKIP plan to privatise the NHS or make you pay to see your GP but those claims have been utterly refuted.
It’s not about left and right, it’s about right and wrong” exclaimed Farage during the UKIP Conference in Doncaster. And that sums it up. I’ve heard the left wing call UKIP “extreme right”. Theres nothing extreme about UKIP. If anything they are bang on in the centre. Just because a party wants immigration reform doesn’t mean it’s automatically an extreme right wing party.
No class wars. No North or South. No divide. UKIP is a party for everyone and for everyone to work together. The whole reason of UKIP’s existence is the call upon change and allow the public to create something refreshing.
There’s an argument that all UKIP talk about is getting out of the EU and Immigration. But those are top subjects that people want to hear about and wish to address. Until UKIP came on the scene, none of the other parties took any of those subjects seriously. It’s only now that UKIP are stealing their voters that they’re forced to listen.
People seem to think it’s evil to bring up immigration but it’s something that really should be regulated and have a certain control over it. And this cannot be done in the EU. They won’t allow it. UKIP want a fair immigration policy like Australia and America. A points based system in where we don’t discriminate against anyone from anywhere in the world in favour of EU countries. And we can hand pick the individuals who have something to offer to better our society. I don’t see how something as reasonable as that can cause such controversy. If most other countries in the world have the same measures, why are we the exception? But it’s not just immigration that the EU control. It’s a large number of our laws and more often than not, if we were to disagree with their decisions, they would keep bringing them back up until the answer was yes. Thank God we didn’t take the Euro. If we can decide on that we should be able to decide whether to leave the EU or not too.
A few days ago, the BBC set out and attacked UKIP in the Panarama special which tried to identify who UKIP were and tried to uncover nasty secrets about their leader. But in it’s timeframe, it managed to find hardly anything to warn people of. Only that Farage has played around a bit with the parties money in order to continue the campaign going or speaking to past UKIP members on how Farage was using people and then throwing them out. It’s little wonder Farage didn’t want to be interviewed for the show claiming it was incredibly biased and only made to attack UKIP’s ground.
The latest swerve thrown out by David Cameron is that “You go to bed with Nigel Farage and you wake up with Ed Miliband”.”You vote UKIP, you get Labour”. Am I the only one who thinks that’s quite an arrogant and naive thing to say? It likely will happen that Labour form the next government if you vote for UKIP but it’s comforting to know there’s an opportunity to get UKIP some MPs and allow them to grow even more for the even the next general election. And who’s to say UKIP can’t hold the balance of power? Nigel Farage seems to think it can be achieved.
And now, a large chunk of people are complaining that UKIP are getting more air time in the pre election debates. Nigel Farage has been given a spot to appear on one of the shows and people are annoyed the BBC are being biased and helping UKIP giving them even more momentum allowing them to appear on television. But they deserve a voice. Every party does. Even the BNP have a right to put their message out there even if not many would want to hear it.People are angered that the Greens haven’t been given a spot which yes they deserve the right to speak on TV, but UKIP have more momentum than the Greens and are gaining all the time. UKIP has just got it’s first MP in the form of Douglas Carswell for Clacton. They narrowly missed out on Haywood and Middleton with there only being around 600 votes in it. And they could very well get their second MP in the form of Mark Reckless for Rochester and Strood. The Green party truth be told hasn’t been ignited a revolution across the country the way UKIP has. And lets be fair, there will be an increase of viewers when Farage appears on the debates because it just makes good television and good entertainment. But remember the consequences for Nick Clegg when he faced Farage. So it will be interesting to see if Nigel can hold his own against 3 other speakers and likely a biased host. Just be ready for even more smear campaigns up until the 2015 General Election
A party that constantly has to attack another party is only showing they have nothing interesting to say about their own party and are possibly worried about what’s happening behind the scenes or even more obvious, the opposition is making them nervous.
It’s not long until we all have a choice to make. The People’s Army will continue their march spreading the word of UKIP. Their will be some that agree with it and some that don’t.
All parties will continue to spread lies so I’m being careful very careful about where I get my news from. Unless it comes from the horses mouth, then it’s probably false propaganda.
Please don’t be afraid to comment below, it would be nice to here other opinions on the subject.