Bluemerle

At what cost?? Farage spent over £80,000 in Bromley and came nowwhere near being elected. UKIP hasn't got the funds to throw away.

I suspect that the EU election is what is in their sights now. Getting themselves re-elected to Brussels so they can continue lining their pockets and funding their pensions. :shock:

eublues

Without Nigel and other UKIP people at the EU "Parliament" there would have been NO VOICE WHATSOEVER opposing the EU there and making the case publicly for the UK to leave.

Because of UKIP MEPs, opposition to the EU has been kept going against the odds, and now the message can no longer be easily dismissed as extreme or cranky.

Nigel is working much harder than he would need to do if motivated just by personal gain through getting in again.

Frederick

The simple fact of the matter is, MEPs or not, UKIP is not a relevant political party to 99.9% of the electorate at any time other than at Euro Elections.

No matter how big a campaign UKIP run, they will get votes that will be a joke. Look at Bromley - UKIP spent at least as much as the main three parties, and probably a lot more, and managed to get a vote that was a fraction of what they were claiming was guaranteed only 24 hours before the polls opened, and, at best, could be called 'barely acceptable'. At local levels the situation is even worse.

If UKIP had flooded Croydon and/or Nuneaton with activists (if such animals exist) the votes would probably have doubled, maybe a bit more, to being very painful instead of being non-existant.

UKIP is very good at EU elections, when voters are focused on EU issues and when most people realise that PR means their vote counts, even if cast for a minor party. UKIP is total **** at any other sort of election.

The only UKIP tactic that makes any sense at all, is for UKIP to stop contending council elections (Westminster is a slightly different matter, but there is no point is standing with any idea of UKIP winning a seat - UKIP can only be an anti-Tory spoiling tactic in the General Election, which I consider to be worth the cost of standing) and concentrate on EU elections only. Inbetween EU elections, UKIP should be re-positioned as an educational and campaigning group.

Let's face facts before we are completely annihalated in May (as looks very likely). UKIP is, and always will be, a one-issue party. NF cannot wave a magic wand and suddenly have a fully fledged political party to lead, no matter how much it flatters his ego to think he does. UKIP is one-issue. As a political party it is a killing weakness, as a campaign group (and at Euro elections) it is a massive strength.

After recent events, isn't it obvious that UKIP needs to start playing to its strengths, not to its leaders' vanity?

Britannist

I thought that someone would bring up the cost to UKIP of the Bromley Parliamentary By-Election :wink: . It's not an unfair question.

I agree the Bromley-Chislehurst By-Election was expensive for UKIP.

The problem is UKIP didn't have much of a local organistion there (as far as I can tell) :x .

What's needed is for UKIP to target its 'best' seats, build up ward branches, and try to get councillors elected 8) .

This sort of organisational structure did/does not exist at Bromley (as far as UKIP is concerned) - while most of the other parties had councillors and party workers in each ward to 'get their people out to vote'.

Despite the disadvantage of not having a reputation in the seat of Bromley-Chislehurst built up over many years (as Cons/Lab/Lib Dims do) - UKIP candidate Mr. Farage still managed to push Labour into fourth place in that By-Election.