On the 3rd May, UKIP won their biggest victory to date; gaining 147 seats in the local councils, with their biggest victory in Lincolnshire, winning a total of 16 seats in the council, UKIP say that this is the game changer. Is this the start of a new four party system in Britain? Do people really trust UKIP? Are UKIP all smoke and no fire? And what do the three main parties have to do to win back the trust of the public?
I want to kick this article off by asking the question, did you see it coming? By that I don’t mean UKIP’s victory’s but rather the local elections. There was very little publicity about them; of course there were the normal party political broadcasts that you get every time an election comes around, but apart from that, there was very little in the mainstream media.
I, at least should have known about them, this is the bread and butter of my trade, although I suppose the excuse of too many late night trains and bad Wi-Fi isn’t really going to cut it.
I’m reminded of a moment in an interview that I did with Mike Sani; the Chairman of Bite the Ballot who said
“Some people call Great Britain the mother ship of democracy. I’m afraid the mother ship has not had the wind blowing her sails for a long time because we have let democracy go sour. We can’t even inspire our youngest citizens to believe in the right to vote. It needs revamping.”
There is no inspiration to vote because, and I’ve heard this point a thousand times, it’s boring. People feel that politics does not apply to them, or that it is the playground of the elite and no one will listen to the little guy. So people choose to protest, ether by not voting, or by voting for UKIP.
But as someone who is proud of being British, I feel that UKIP (and in extension The BNP) are quite possibly one of the worst things to happen to Great Britain. I took some time to read through UKIP’s policies, I wanted to find out what they really stand for, then I discovered this on I found something worrying tucked near to the bottom of their immigration policy, they want to;
“Repeal the 1998 Human Rights Act and withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms”
Repealing the 1998 Human Rights Act would mean that the following will no longer be protected by law;
- The right to life
- The prohibition of torture
- The prohibition of slavery and forced labour
- The right to liberty and security
- The right to a fair trial
- No punishment without Law
- The right to respect for private and family life
- The freedom of thought, conscience and religion
- The freedom of Expression
- The right of assembly and association
- The right to marry
- The prohibition of discrimination
- Restrictions on political activities of aliens.
- The preventions of abuse of rights
- Limitation on how rights can be restricted
- The protection of property
- The right to education
- The right to free election
I do not want to live in a country that does not uphold these rights. If UKIP are successful in repelling the Human Rights Act, then no one in Britain will be safe. You could be arrested for anything that the government sees fit, you will no longer have the right to learn, the right to a free election without interference, the right to a trial.
Slavery and torture could be brought back; of course, this will be in the name of Britain, just like UKIP.
According to The BBC, only an estimated 31% of people turned out to vote. This should be all the inspiration you need to take yourself to a polling station, if you don’t want UKIP in office, vote them out. I really do wonder how the other 69% would have voted.
But all in all, it’s the Robert Kilroy Silk effect, politics is seen as the playground for the rich, out of touch elite. A place untouchable and where the common man is shunned and side-lined. Politics in general needs to be more accessible to the man on the street; it needs to be the talking point of the country, alongside The X Factor and the latest football results.
If a party can pull this off, they would storm any election.
BY: Tom Sanderson
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