Local Elections: What went wrong and what went right?

Local Elections: What went wrong and what went right?

Nigel Farage UKIP Leader

When you look at election results and you see that the British National Party got 40% support being second only to Labour in a local ward in Cumbria, the question arises: What do you need to get that kind of level of support? The answer is straightforward: massive concentration of resources to counter mass media smear campaigns.

As it happens, in May 2013 by-elections and council elections, the British National Party did not manage to win a single seat and instead lost a County Council seat. For those who follow the news on a daily basis, the outcome of the present elections does not come as a surprise. The United Kingdom Independence Party UKIP cleared the tables but still did not manage to make a breakthrough by winning control of a local or regional authority or achieving the unthinkable such as winning a seat in the House of Commons.

A few days ago in Eastleigh, the Liberal Democrats that are now in decline, managed to hold on to an MP seat. This week it was Labour’s turn to hold on to the seat that was occupied by David Miliband. Having said that, there is a trend in which the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Lib Democrats are losing ground to UKIP.

Being in Opposition, the Labour Party should be winning practically every single seat in the country and this is not happening. Who is making inroads? UKIP is the untested choice that is now attracting support from very disenchanted voters that used to support the so called mainstream political parties.

What is on the cards? 2014. In another series of local elections and of the European Elections, another round of wins by UKIP could lead to a leadership challenge within the Conservative Party that at this very minute finds itself between a rock and hard place trying to make promises about immigration that it actually cannot deliver as long as Britain is still a member of the European Union.