Jerusalem

Someone made a good point about this other day. May have been Britannist.
UKIP support is neglible in Scotland and Wales, and most UKIP supporters see themselves as English anyway. Since Scotland and Wales will always back a socialist party, do we want socialism forced on England by Celtic voters? Does the UK really have a future? And does a UK Independence Party have one? I suspect not; but EIP (as no one would nickname it) certainly would.

Benjaminw1

NO! 'cos we already got one

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"I am not, and never have been, a man of the right. My position was on the left and is now in the centre of politics.”

Andy

Not quite

Andrew Constantine

I believe that UKIP dropping its policy obsession about the UK to focus on England, would be the single most effective step forward we can take. There is a tide of English patriotism on the flood. I strongly believe that UKIP must change its policy and catch this tide. We could then see a virtuous self-reinforcing circle: we would seek to foster England's identity; the English would hopefully look to us to restore their freedom and independence.

I have not heard a single good argument in defence of UKIP's focus on the UK. I suspect it tells us more about the age of our leadership. Going back to the 1950s British world view might have been wonderful for the British, but that time is now far gone.

A free England and its withdrawal from the EU - or be subsumed into a federal United States of Europe. That is the policy choice for UKIP. Which do you prefer?

C_steam

Can we have an ED ghetto on the forum please?

Rich C

The English Democrats and UKIP should at least cooperate so as not to split votes between candidates.

Jerusalem

I don't want to be in a ghetto, and I don't support the ED. I don't even know who they are, and nor does 90% of the country. And this endless splitting is giving me a headache.

The previous post by Mr Constantine is spot on. I'm in my 20s and, like most of my friends, Englishness is my primary identity. I don't resent the Scots or Welsh, but they desire a different future; they want to be part of the USE, most English people don't. We should go our own way and stop clinging to a super-national state.

mkpdavies

Perhaps we could have a bit of a seperation, but still retaining a UK umbrella. Just like the country seems to be like now.

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Lewkip

I think it is folly to think about a name change to UKIP. And I also think it shows how bad things are for us to even think about emphasising England over the other home nations: This will only fuel the `Little Englander' smear from certain quarters.

I for one never liked the idea of devolution. If Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland wanted to go alone then there should have been a vote for true independence or remain a political part of the UK. None of this separate assembly or Scottish Parliament rubbish. All it has brought is a distortion of the voting mechanism at Westminster, rampant waste of money (note the cost overrun of the Scottish Parliament building), and assist the grand EU scheme to further regionalise the UK.

As it stands, our primary policy is to take the United Kingdom of Great Britain out of the EU. It's simple to understand, and has helped us to stand out. If we are now going to add the complication `...but with special emphasis on England while allowing Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland special dispensation according to our devolution arrangements which blah, blah, blah etc' then we deserve all the ridicule it will generate.

There are far more substantive issues that we need to focus on such as the crisis on pensions, the NHS, a deteriorating education system, our industrial competitiveness, taxation policy, immigration, etc than intra-nation squabbling.

I just hope that this is a passing fad generated by the jingoism of England's sojourn into the World Cup, and will cease to merit attention in August.

Tom Wilde

Whether "most UKIP supporters see themselves as English anyway" is a question that could only be settled by some sort of large scale survey. Personally I strongly doubt it, though. I've always seen myself as British first and foremost and I think the same applies to many others.

However, the claim that UKIP support in Wales in negligible is much easier to disprove - you just have to look at election results there. UKIP Wales has frequently achieved respectable poll figures even if the average has so far been lower than in England. In the 2003 Welsh Assembly elections they topped 10% in one consituency. And in the Euro elections UKIP Wales beat the Welsh LibDems, despite the latter party having strong roots in Wales since the mid 19th Century. UKIP Wales gained so many votes that if Wales had been electing 5 MEPs in 2004 as they did in 1999, then the fifth MEP would have been UKIP. However, the number of MEPs had been reduced to four, so we lost out. Doesn't alter the fact that it was a terrific result, and that the trend in Wales is strongly upwards.