With just one seat, Britain's Euroskeptic UKIP shakes political scene

UKIP, which has boosted its appeal with an anti-EU, anti-immigration platform, won its first seat in Parliament Thursday with a commanding margin. The vote follows a series of coups for the party ahead of next May's general elections.

|
Stefan Wermuth/Reuters
Newly elected UK Independence Party (UKIP) MP Douglas Carswell walks through Clacton-on-Sea in eastern England on Friday, one day after winning the party its first elected seat in Parliament.

In capturing a seat last night, the populist United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) has brought its grand total of representation in the 650-member British Parliament to one.

That’s not exactly a force to be reckoned with. So what is all the fuss about?

In some ways the talking heads are taking it too far. The seat was won in a special election spurred by the decision of Douglas Carswell, who represents Clacton in southern England, to defect from the Conservative Party to UKIP at the end of August. A popular figure, his win last night had been anticipated – though his ability to garner 60 percent of the vote caught many by surprise.

Still, with this vote, UKIP has officially broken down the doors of the national political establishment. With just one seat, UKIP has moved onto a powerful new playing field – underscoring its appeal particularly to working-class voters who have often felt neglected by other parties.

The Guardian newspaper today commented that “a new chapter in British politics has opened.” It wrote, “The biggest message from these results is that four-party politics is here to stay, something that no one thought possible within the straitjacket of first past the post.” 

The win follows a series of coups for the party, most recently in European Union elections in May, when UKIP won more seats than any other party, with 27.5 percent of votes. Despite that momentum, UKIP is not expected to increase its representation dramatically in general elections next May – though that's less a reflection of its popularity than it is the use in the UK of the “first past-the-post” system, which gives the victory to the candidate with the most votes – even if they do not win a majority – and favors established mainstream parties.

The win also means that Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, who is seeking another five-year term in May, must be vigilant about the possibility that other Conservative Party members might defect to UKIP. He is more likely now to move right on UKIP's bread-and-butter issues, the European Union and immigration, both of which the party thinks put the average Brit at a disadvantage.

Perhaps the most significant result from last night’s race happened on the other side of the country. In the special election in the district of Heywood and Middleton, a Labour stronghold, the Labour party barely squeaked out a victory against UKIP. The share of votes going to UKIP surged from 3 percent in 2010 to 39 percent last night.

While UKIP was originally regarded as a party that drew disgruntled conservatives, it’s now increasingly appealing to those who feel that mainstream politics has left them behind. In other words, they can draw support from both sides of the political spectrum.  (Read an in-depth report on Britain's future here.)

UKIP leader Nigel Farage sent a warning out to his mainstream rivals. “We are the most national of all political parties,” he said last night. “We are the only party that can get big vote shares in Tory heartlands and in Labour heartlands. No other party crosses those boundaries – those old divides of left and right and the divides of class.”

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to With just one seat, Britain's Euroskeptic UKIP shakes political scene
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2014/1010/With-just-one-seat-Britain-s-Euroskeptic-UKIP-shakes-political-scene
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe