tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post2773699611548147052..comments2024-03-29T09:14:53.583+00:00Comments on All That Is Solid ...: Tories and UKIP After EastleighPhilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-32847367621303601872013-03-05T00:04:54.710+00:002013-03-05T00:04:54.710+00:00Well, if it leads to the Tory party ripping itself...Well, if it leads to the Tory party ripping itself apart, much like it did in the late 1990s, is UKIP necessarily a bad thing?<br /><br />On another note the mathematics are that UKIP took as significant a chunk away from the Lib-Dem's support as from the Tory's so that supports the notion that it is an anti-political vote for people of a certain demographic.<br /><br />What's needed in my opinion is a real, rather than contrived 'big-society'. People need to be engaged by politics and civil-society in general and to feel they are fully involved in the decision making process. <br /><br />You are right in that years of neo-liberalism has undermined this, and it has not been helped by the role of the media in amplifying scandal. Another aspect is the hollowing-out of local democracy which makes people feel even more disconnected - in Southampton between Capita and other providers local government has become essentially a private function with complaints procedures replacing the ballot box and managerialism replacing democracy.<br /><br />One effect of this is that politicians become ever more abstract and distant, viewed with ever more distrust and cynicism.<br /><br />Makes it easy for someone like Farage to come along and claim that they are anti-politics, though the irony of this claim is not too dissimilar to the irony, as someone has pointed out, that a so-called anti-European party has any power-base at all thanks to it's election to the European Parliament under a very European PR system.<br /><br />Neilhttp://www.prettygraphs.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-15419950523689778422013-03-02T19:03:00.035+00:002013-03-02T19:03:00.035+00:00Good points.Good points.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-52738085816591497442013-03-02T18:43:34.865+00:002013-03-02T18:43:34.865+00:00Not a fan of Farage but he would have won but he i...Not a fan of Farage but he would have won but he is not supid as he would then have lost the seat in 2015! Plus he would have to give up his high profile seat in Europe (strange UKIP hate Europe but love being MEP's) Easier to get on tv as a non MP- The leader of the Greens was on our screens more before she became an MPAlasdair Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09554782740632408913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-55057700943503483332013-03-02T10:37:42.067+00:002013-03-02T10:37:42.067+00:00Loz, I don't think Eastleigh is a barometer fo...Loz, I don't think Eastleigh is a barometer for the country, but it does flag up the Conservatives' bind and the repository UKIP is for anti-politics votes. At the risk of sounding like an Ashcroft fan boy, here's <a href="http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2013/03/we-know-how-eastleigh-voted-heres-why/" rel="nofollow">his commentary</a> on the exit polling he did.<br /><br />If we want to break UKIP and anti-politics sentiment generally, we have to dump insipid wonkishness, talk more about what's really affecting people's lives (which, in fairness, Labour is starting to do), recruit and recruit and recruit to the party and the labour movement, and start offering the hope of a secure future.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-84410325361765089182013-03-02T10:32:18.671+00:002013-03-02T10:32:18.671+00:00Of course, Rhiannon, what people don't realise...Of course, Rhiannon, what people don't realise is in the highly unlikely event of UKIP ever having some power the NHS will be scrapped, and the general rate of taxation will go up so the rich can receive further tax cuts to settle at a flat tax.<br /><br />Needless to say, UKIP tend not to talk too much about this on the doorstep.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-18425588096803151092013-03-02T04:42:10.617+00:002013-03-02T04:42:10.617+00:00It is interesting that (according to Wikipedia at ...It is interesting that (according to Wikipedia at least) the NF or BNP have never contested the seat of Eastleigh. The English Democrats and the National Liberal Party - Third Way have gathered votes in the very low hundreds, but the choice on the right since the mid-1990s in this seat has been between the Tories and UKIP. <br /><br />I'd be interested to see whether in other by-elections since 2009-2010 the gains and losses of UKIP and the BNP. Evanhttp://hatfulofhistory.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-68767682270394168492013-03-01T21:57:12.635+00:002013-03-01T21:57:12.635+00:00I have been shocked at the reaction of many labour...I have been shocked at the reaction of many labour movement figures who have been joyously mocking the collapse of the Tory vote and the rise of UKIP in Eastleigh. <br /><br />They seem to think it is a good thing that people who actually bother to vote are now abandoning the Tories and heading towards a reactionary and openly racist party which espouses a more authoritarian social policy and an even more neoliberal economic policy.<br /><br />I know you haven't covered it here, but there is also the matter of the failure of Labour or any other left voice to break through here either. The combined vote for Labour, TUSC and the NHA vehicle was less than 5,000 whilst Eastleigh's voters turned out in droves to support the right-wing Coalition parties, bigots and lunatics.<br /><br />The Labour vote only held up (it did not increase) because of a high-profile candidate and a concerted effort by many on the ground. One only wonders what the vote would have been with a worthy local and a minimal effort.<br /><br />We can all laugh at Cameron's little hiccup here if we want. The reality of the Eastleigh result is that the political discourse is moving hard and fast to the right. The UK is moving faster to the exit door of the EU with no hope for re-admission.<br /><br />The UKIP life might be limited, but I fear it is going to be long enough to cause huge and irreparable damage this country for the long-term. We mock it at our peril.Alex Dawsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14197211489381075789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-12555895472660218512013-03-01T21:27:46.239+00:002013-03-01T21:27:46.239+00:00We've got a society where capitalism uses and ...We've got a society where capitalism uses and plays on semi-nationalist sentiment hugely to keep the democratic system malleable. It makes sense that "nice" racist parties can thrive in that in a time of both individually experienced and constantly reported economic bad fortune.<br /><br />Also, Fabricant. Always sounds like perfect name for a party figure in a dystopian novel!<br /><br />What I am hearing a lot is that UKIP get simple, sensible sounding messages out about things Labour should by now have claimed as our own. The NHS, for example. People think that UKIP are pro preserving the NHS because they go on about restoring old style non academic nurses and so on. They still want to decentralise and draw in competitive commissioning, but they convince by painting a more visual picture of restoring and reinventing the past. Rhiannonnoreply@blogger.com