The Tap has a very good (if rather long!) read about UKIP, which echoes much of my own feelings that the party has an attitude difficulty that results in its shooting its own professed aims in the foot (if that mangled metaphor make sense) and making our situation worse.
It is a shame: I feel there is a place, and a good use, for UKIP, but not in detracting from the more Eurosceptic side of the political spectrum which tips things more toward the pro-EU parties. As Tapestry has written in that post, the now watered-down policies toward the EU of the Coalition Government would not have gone that way if it hadn't been for the need for a coalition, and that was largely down to UKIP, which they have themselves claimed as some kind of "victory".
UKIPpers seem so proud of this, which has meant a reduced hope of withdrawal from the EU than would otherwise have been the case. That is a simple and plain fact, beyond any dispute.
Putting the boot on the other foot, would (say) the Greens be pleased if their self-centred vote at a General Election had made the difference between an election win for the Left, which would have incorporated many of their own policies (such as green taxes), and a different result that meant that this policy agenda ended up diminished, delayed or perhaps even eliminated altogether?
Of course not; and it is this attitude by many UKIP folk that is the biggest internal issue they need to overcome. Otherwise they just play into the hands of the Europhiles. The half-dozen or so comments (including Tapestry's replies) to the linked post show this problem clearly, and it is something that the party really needs to tackle in earnest.
The bottom line is that only a Conservative Government, operating as a majority government, gives this nation any hope whatsoever of pulling out of the EU, possibly via the plan I devised and submitted to Mark Reckless (who passed it on to Daniel Hannan) earlier this year.
While UKIP drain off significant numbers of votes on what has to be realised is a false hope, that goal is impeded and we end up with perverse results such as the current coalition (which does have other benefits, of course, but not in regard to EU matters).
No: UKIP would be far better concentrating its (comparatively limited) resources into other elections and the overall campaign message. They aren't likely to get any MPs any time soon, if ever!
For example, if they were to contest more local elections, and with a proper campaign tailored to local issues and with candidates prepared to be true councillors, not just idle mouthpieces for the party (on which matter I have written previously), then they could achieve some real electoral success.
They have in fact achieved such results and have a couple of dozen councillors scattered around Britain, so it can be done!
The Taps obsession with UKIP and his bitterness over the Tories being unable to get an over all majority is well known. He can't seem to grasp the fact that Cameron and the Tory leadership would not have acted any other way than they have under the coalition. Camerons claims to be an EUskeptic were blown out of the water by his dropping of a referendum on Lisbon and his subsequent actions via May of opting into various EU schemes, plus his determination (seemingly) to get Turkey into the EU. Cameron is probably the reason I and many voters on the right cannot and will not vote Tory,as currently the party does not match my views in this important area. This is the point that the Tap can't seem to grasp. Were Cameron to act like an EUsceptic or heaven forfend actually be an EUsceptic he'd have got the UKIP vote, as it is, he isn't, he didn't and he wont. This is something the Tory party will have to live with.
ReplyDeleteTo other readers: QED.
ReplyDelete"only a Conservative Government, operating as a majority government, gives this nation any hope whatsoever of pulling out of the EU"
ReplyDeleteWere there the slightest chance of a Conservative government adopting such a policy I would have voted for one. Since there isn't, I didn't.