YI MEMBER

Personally I think that unless we can start appealing to a wider range of people we will be unable to move forward and this should be the main agenda for UKIP right now.

We can do this in several ways-

All significant party members should recognise this and should support and encourage Young Independence as one way of reaching out to an under-represented demographic within the party.

The EU is not the cause of every problem in this country. Yes, we want out on the basis of principle and practical reasons but we also want a change on domestic policy. Even those who believe that our single purpose is to leave the EU must realise that the only way to achieve enough support to reach that goal is to be recognised as a party whom the public can relate to and support in ALL matters.

We must overcome the perception problem associated with this party. Influential members of this party should actively disassociate themselves with any view which could be constituted as racist or intolerant of any minority group of society and help to spread the message that UKIP is about democracy and is against a political union, as well as practical policy which can deal with the multi-factoral difficulties we are facing today.

Members who damage the image of the party which is already fairly negative amongst the general public by associating with parties who are known to be violent and commercially unpopular should not be given endorsement by other members.


These things are critical. The party is losing support hand over fist because of these kind of issues and will certainly not gain any more. If anyone disagrees with these ideas then I would seriously question whether their interests lie in the future growth of the party.

chikrodah

Fully agree with you on this. There has been a tendency for UKIP's policies and prevailing attitudes to be Thatcheresque. Whilst that will appeal to a certain percentage of the voting public, it does nothing to reach out to others who choose not to vote for whatever reason.

Agreed. However, if you really want to get Young Independence up and running, don't rely on the older party members.

Brainstorm how to reach young voters. Try leaving leaflets/posters in community centres, pool halls, newsagents windows, etc.

Don't focus on universities; there are more potential voters outside Uni than in.

Do something fun to attract attention. Not some crazy publicity stunt but, for example, organise a series of gigs where local bands are the focus and you just happen to have YI members around who are happy to talk politics at the bar in a mature and non-pushy way.

This, unfortunately, is where you will run into problems. There is still a significant portion of UKIP's membership which would rather that UKIP was a non-participatory political pressure group. Best of luck in growing YI's membership into the "adult" membership that will focus on those aims.
No arguments there. That will, however, involve a certain amount of purging of branch and committee members and you may find that UKIP loses a good percentage of its branches during that purge.

If UKIP becomes mature enough to transform into an effective political force, it will be because ideas like yours become the norm. Good luck.

YI MEMBER

Thanks chikrodah- I find it extremely difficult to understand why everyone doesn't view things in this way, it seems the most obvious thing in the world and I find it very frustrating. I can assure you that myself and the rest of the YI team are being as proactive as we possibly can be around our work/study lives and whilst not relying on older members, we do need their support as I feel cohesion will be the key to its success.

Maturity is a good word and I feel quite despairing when I read some of the posts made on this forum by supposedly 'mature' members!

chikrodah

Support from the rest of the UKIP membership will aid certainly aid cohesion.

Two things branches could do to help you (assuming you're not already asking them to do this):

They can get you copies of the electoral rolls for their area (which will list all the 17 year olds and their birthdays) so you can send out birthday leaflets.

They can get copies of the lists which show who voted in local elections, which you can compare to the electoral rolls and you can then campaign in targeted areas.

If you can build up a national picture of the youth vote over a period of time you can campaign more effectively.

I started being active in politics at 14 when I got volunteered by my dad to take notes at meetings. It's a lifetime habit, despite the frustrations.

Earthling

Hi YI member, I agree with all of your points.
As a fairly new member of the party and aged 21, Young Independence is definitely on my list
I have already looked at the website however, and was somewhat disappointed with the annoying layout and a forum which is very very inactive.

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Earthling's Blog

Don't let EU rule Britannia! Vote UKIP and say NO to Brussels Bureaucracy.

cassie

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I admit to being biassed, but a proper constitutional settlement for England should be a top priority for UKIP, and the Party's current policy should be radically changed to provide for such a settlement.

Unlike much EU policy which tends to be negative, an proper England could be positive, FOR something rather than AGAINST! A campaign along the lines and with the high, professional standards of NoRemoteControl promoting a separate English Parliament & Executive could be extremely effective and productive!

How does one go about seeking to influence the opinions of UKIP's policy drafters?


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YI MEMBER

Surely getting a wider range of support, which means MORE support, is prior to this though as this will enable UKIP to actually carry out changes, as opposed to not getting enough votes to be able to actually action anything?

Bob FM

Cassie you will upset some old timers, the money for NoRemoteControl came from the IND-Dem group who the seperatists on here want UKIP to denounce.

Geoffrey Collier

Cassie: A proper constitutional settlement, and one which is equable, would be to England's disadvantage. The combined number of seats in the Commons for the English constituencies, ensures that the will of England prevails in matters of foreign policy, military policy and economic policy. Will you be giving the Scots and Welsh dominion over these matters? Presumably some separate arrangement can be found for N.I.

The Scots and Welsh may be economically favoured by the Exchequer, although that is disputed, but England gains the lion's share of benefit from the Union of the UK.
Population imbalance between the three kingdoms, and separate constituencies as the basis for Parliamentary representation ensure positive advantage in England's favour.
At the present time Scottish, Welsh, and NI regiments are serving the Crown abroad in various theatres of conflict. Their contribution to the military, is quite disproportionate to their respective population sizes.

We need to be more generous in these matters; generous of spirit and more inclined to accept some disadvantage from time to time, from final decisions. The E.D's are merely producing a regionalist mentality beneficial to Brussels. Only the immature, greedy and politically illiterate suburbanites, could devise such a political grouping. The independence for the whole of the UK suppose is our aim; the historic constitution
is what we proclaim.

mrabody

Please elaborate on what advantages England enjoys from the Union as presently constituted? You make that assertion but for most English they wonder why they pay extra taxes to support the other parts of the union and yet get substandard services, and indeed in the case of Scotland face outright discrimination (English students at Scots universities must pay top up fees yet students from other EU member states and of course Scots students do not!).

What difference would the loss of the Celtic peripheries make to England? We would still be a nation of about 45 million people - still one of the largest in Europe, we would still have the

In the meantime we have a government that legislates for England using its Scottish MPs to ensure a majority vote, even though they are not affected by their votes.

Devolution has opened up a big dirty can of worms and piously blithering on about being generous about our historic constitution is myopic. As much as you may wish to ignore it this is an issue that is going to sooner or later erupt into the English consciousness.

For my part I favour the powers currently held by the Scottish parliament being devolved to the English Counties, leaving Westminster as a national parliament dealing with issues such as Criminal law, defence, foreign affairs and trade etc. This would prevent the imposition of another expensive layer of government and profligate politicians in the form of an English Parliament. It would also introduce a healthy element of competition in taxation and the provision of services between different counties which could only be a good thing.