Another tory defects to UKIP

[lavrentis]

ukip have entered the building.

Great news, hopefully one of many seats

[bovril]

Saw Milliband on tele this morning and he just speaks like a fvckng management consultant. And a thick one at that.

[SMX11]

The Lib Dems get less votes than the Greens in Clacton.

As expected, a bad night for Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems but probably worst for Labour based on expectation. Still at the end of the day, they're by-elections and a dismal turnout in the case of Heywood

35% is about average for a by-election but I agree there will be another 15-20% extra voting in may.

[purpleronnie]

Sad day.

[RobHawk]

Anyone else fed up with hearing "a vote for UKIP is a vote for [insert opposition party here]"? 

 

Lets be honest a vote for UKIP is a vote for UKIP and the other major parties need to be doing more to encourage voters to vote for them! Its scaremongering and frankly a load of bollocks and such a negative way of trying to get people to vote for you! 

[leicsmac]

I wonder what the Greens could do if they drummed up the same amount of publicity that UKIP have...

[RobHawk]

I wonder what the Greens could do if they drummed up the same amount of publicity that UKIP have...

If we had a Green candidate in my constituency i'd vote green for sure! 

[lavrentis]

UKIP out in Hinckley today.

 

The only party for local people, put the other candidates to shame

I wonder what the Greens could do if they drummed up the same amount of publicity that UKIP have...

 

Nobody gives a fuck about the Green's

[johnny the fox]

The 10,000th wake up call for the main parities.. and westminster.. they STILL don't get it..

[lavrentis]

can only say the BBC are always fair to every party but they are actually harsher on UKIP 

[lavrentis]

wonder if they will now say

 

you only have 1 MP in parliament, then only 10, then a third, then who knows?

[Guest MattP]

Sad day.

 

 

Well, at least you aren't laughing anymore at the prospect of it happening. Hate to say I told you so. It becomes two in Rochester so get used to it.

 

Anyone else fed up with hearing "a vote for UKIP is a vote for [insert opposition party here]"? 

 

Lets be honest a vote for UKIP is a vote for UKIP and the other major parties need to be doing more to encourage voters to vote for them! Its scaremongering and frankly a load of bollocks and such a negative way of trying to get people to vote for you! 

 

Very, if it's the best the Tories can put up as an argument to vote for them then they have some pretty big problems.

 

They also need to recognise that if they say this that a vote for the Conservatives north of Nottingham is also a vote for Ed Miliband given it's becoming obvious that the Tories standing in some of these seats is going tolead Labour into that seat rather than UKIP.

 

I wonder what the Greens could do if they drummed up the same amount of publicity that UKIP have...

 

They have had quite a bit I think, problem with the Greens is people don't want such an impact on their own lives as what they would inflict, people like having a hot shower, they like driving their car to work, they like sitting in from of a warm fire on a winter's night.

 

UKIP policy is popular hence the vote share they are getting, the Green party policy is like something from the 1700's. Luddites.

[leicsmac]

If we had a Green candidate in my constituency i'd vote green for sure! 

 

As would I.

 

 

 

Nobody gives a **** about the Green's

 

Nope, as due to the aforementioned lack of publicity. They might actually have missed a trick by not trying to rile up the big three parties in the way that UKIP have and by so doing gain interest from the media and therefore attention.

 

 

They have had quite a bit I think, problem with the Greens is people don't want such an impact on their own lives as what they would inflict, people like having a hot shower, they like driving their car to work, they like sitting in from of a warm fire on a winter's night.

 

UKIP policy is popular hence the vote share they are getting, the Green party policy is like something from the 1700's. Luddites.

 

I don't agree with the whole Green manifesto (as you say, their energy policy is Luddite and their attitude towards pseudoscience; ie, encouraging it is annoying too). But from the social side I agree pretty much wholeheartedly. 

 

As I said above, they're not getting in the faces of the big three parties in the way the Kippers have and they're not big on nationalism (which sadly seems to be something of a guiding light right now) so they're not going to get much exposure.

[lavrentis]

I think the greens lost all credibility when they introduced Transgender toilets

[Guest MattP]

Not hard to see why Labour are losing support either, just imagine electing this and sending it to public office, awful. The line about Ed Miliband is priceless and deserved to be laughed at by the hall.

 

 

Just contrast that with Douglas Carswell. It's a different world.

[Bellend Sebastian]

UKIP out in Hinckley today.

 

The only party for local people, put the other candidates to shame

 

Nobody gives a **** about the Green's

 

Well, media coverage wise, that's true, even though they have exactly the same number of MPs as UKIP, and until yesterday had 1 more.

 

The amount of airtime the BBC have given UKIP in particular is astonishing.

 

I know a lot of people that would vote Green as they see them as only actually vaguely socialist alternative to Labour, but I expect when it comes to the crunch they'll all vote Labour to fend off the Tories.

 

It's a great system

[Guest MattP]

As I said above, they're not getting in the faces of the big three parties in the way the Kippers have and they're not big on nationalism (which sadly seems to be something of a guiding light right now) so they're not going to get much exposure.

 

But they actually don't have any widespread support, they have won a seat in Brighton where virtually every lefty has moved in the last 20 years and it's looking like they'll lose that back to Labour next May.

 

Look at their results last night, by elections are brilliant for minor parties and the Greens got 870 (3%) 688 in Clacton (1%) - nowhere in the UK would UKIP achieve a vote as low as that.

[Guest MattP]

Well, media coverage wise, that's true, even though they have exactly the same number of MPs as UKIP, and until yesterday had 1 more.

 

The amount of airtime the BBC have given UKIP in particular is astonishing.

 

I know a lot of people that would vote Green as they see them as only actually vaguely socialist alternative to Labour, but I expect when it comes to the crunch they'll all vote Labour to fend off the Tories.

 

It's a great system

 

Purely to try and demonise them though and it's clearly backfiring.

 

Question Time last night was ridiculous, a constituency that 60% of has just voted UKIP with the Tories a strong second and the audience resembled like something from a University or Trade Union conference.

[Guest MattP]

I do agree that it's a hard decision to decide how much time they should get on things like the BBC, what do you with a party who whilst having a little number of MP's are also capable of winning a national election of the whole of Britain?

 

 

What I am pleased about though is the "UKIP are racist" argument seems to have pretty much gone away, one idiot in the audience on Question Time was the only mention of it last night in 7-8 hours of solid political coverage.

[hairy]

Sad day.

I agree whole heartedly. It reminds me of the day the BNP took those council seats.

[leicsmac]

But they actually don't have any widespread support, they have won a seat in Brighton where virtually every lefty has moved in the last 20 years and it's looking like they'll lose that back to Labour next May.

Look at their results last night, by elections are brilliant for minor parties and the Greens got 870 (3%) 688 in Clacton (1%) - nowhere in the UK would UKIP achieve a vote as low as that.

Nor did UKIP, up until Farage started engaging the Press and going for antagonistic and controversial remarks. Say what you like, but their PR has been spot on. They know they would get a lot of negative attention, but also they knew more exposure would pick up a lot of Tory voters who wanted something more right wing, which has happened.

Also, as I said before, the current resurgence of right wing groups across Europe given the current climate plays into their hands too.

I think given the right climate and public exposure, the Greens would make similar gains. But who knows?

[Guest MattP]

Nor did UKIP, up until Farage started engaging the Press and going for antagonistic and controversial remarks. Say what you like, but their PR has been spot on. They know they would get a lot of negative attention, but also they knew more exposure would pick up a lot of Tory voters who wanted something more right wing, which has happened.

Also, as I said before, the current resurgence of right wing groups across Europe given the current climate plays into their hands too.

I think given the right climate and public exposure, the Greens would make similar gains. But who knows?

 

UKIP used to score quite well in Euro elections, they certainly got a few elected when Kilroy was in charge of the party but gaining numerous MP's has always been a pipe dream for any party apart from the big three with our current FPTP.

 

The greatest friend UKIP has in Britain is the left wing elite that seems to control the BBC and large swaths of the media, they hear Nigel Farage talk about immigration and they shudder and find it disgusting, they assume the rest of the country thinks like them so they give him a massive platform to shout it in the hope that people will despise him but they don't realise that large amounts of people actually think exactly what he is thinking and they come from all sides of the political spectrum.

 

The reality is UKIP are far more in touch with the country than the guardian reading liberal elite are. I guarantee they'll still be people inside the BBC today not understanding people are voting UKIP.

 

If the Greens wanted to do this they would need to become far more mainstream as well, as I've said before, people enjoy driving a car to work, they enjoy having a hot bath, vast parts of the country are certainly not prepared to live as vegetarians or adhere to a nationwide 20mph speed limit, when you actually break down their policies they aren't 'liberal' at all, they would turn all our lives into The Truman Show.

[Guest Kopfkino]

I spoke to the Ukip people in Hinckley today. Decent people, not trying to force their message into you like the left does and happy to chat properly with you. Also since Conference they have listed the policies mentioned on their website making it far easier to actually talk to them as a political party rather than an anti eu movement. A lot of decent policies on there aswell. I must also say that the woman from Ukip on with Andrew Neil last night was very good indeed, showed up the main party politicians.

I still won't vote ukip tho

[Spiritwalker]

I wonder what the Greens could do if they drummed up the same amount of publicity that UKIP have...

What they need is a charismatic leader who drinks pints of beer.

[Spiritwalker]

UKIP used to score quite well in Euro elections, they certainly got a few elected when Kilroy was in charge of the party but gaining numerous MP's has always been a pipe dream for any party apart from the big three with our current FPTP.

The greatest friend UKIP has in Britain is the left wing elite that seems to control the BBC and large swaths of the media, they hear Nigel Farage talk about immigration and they shudder and find it disgusting, they assume the rest of the country thinks like them so they give him a massive platform to shout it in the hope that people will despise him but they don't realise that large amounts of people actually think exactly what he is thinking and they come from all sides of the political spectrum.

The reality is UKIP are far more in touch with the country than the guardian reading liberal elite are. I guarantee they'll still be people inside the BBC today not understanding people are voting UKIP.

If the Greens wanted to do this they would need to become far more mainstream as well, as I've said before, people enjoy driving a car to work, they enjoy having a hot bath, vast parts of the country are certainly not prepared to live as vegetarians or adhere to a nationwide 20mph speed limit, when you actually break down their policies they aren't 'liberal' at all, they would turn all our lives into The Truman Show.

The worrying thing is that you are probably right.

A large proportion of our society is more concerned with leaving the EU and chucking out the foreigners than they are with saving the planet.