UKIP If You Want Too...

Starting with the obvious: it must be said that UKIP did very well in the County Elections in May. Across Kent, they've formed the official opposition, inclusing 4 seats in Shepway: Folkestone West, Folkestone South, Folkestone North-East and Romney Marsh.

Their simple message has struck a chord with the electorate: the votes were won not through local campaigning (their campaigns were almost invisible - in Folkestone West, there seemed to be a partial delivery of one leaflet) but through national message.

But what do UKIP actually stand for? What will they do on Kent County Council for example? They can't make Kent opt-out of Europe, or change immigration rules: both are set by Government. So what will they vote for, and stand for on Kent County Council?

A UKIP spokesman recently said that UKIP COuncillors were not whipped. Fair enough: individual Councillors make decisions based on their wards ond their conscience. But in the next breath, he went on to say that UKIP have policy on a number of ears: against windfarms and HS" as examples. So how does that work? What if the Councillor likes windfarms and fast trains? Can they vote against the policy? And if so, what is the point of the policy?

So this means we need to look at the views of UKIP candidates and Councillors themselves.

There have been scare stories from across the Country about extreme views from some UKIP Councillors. But we're in South East England: lets look in Kent and nearby.

There's the anti-semetic comments by a UKIP candidate from Crowborough in East Sussex. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-22303637

There's the candidate selected, then de-selected, by UKIP who backed phone hacking by tabloids. http://blogs.channel4.com/michael-crick-on-politics/farage-denies-urging-tabloid-reporter-to-stand-for-ukip/2430

There's the UKIP candidate from Gravesham who called for the abortion of Down's Syndrome children to be aborted. http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/echoes-Nazi-years-Geoffrey-Clark-s-compulsory/story-17628809-detail/story.html

Vile views. Evil. I'm sure most people didn't know their opinions on things like this before voting for them. Voting for a different relationship with Europe is one thing. Voting to back a candidate who would like to see children aborted simply because they are different: that's VERY different. Very 1930's Germany - with technology.

I'm not going to "tack to the right". There are things Europe does well. There are things Europe does badly. We need to change those bad things, and get them to work to our benefit. It's not anti-European to say some things need change.

One area for example is that miillions are currently spent on Europe working between two bases. It's insane. Many Europeans recognise its insane. What we need is more people to get in there, deal positively with the problem, sort it, save the money, and get on with the job, not scream abuse from the sidelines. Its a lot easier to stand on the moving train pissing out of the window than to stand on the platform and wee through the window of the moving train...

It's often said the devil has the best tunes. Perhaps that's true. But UKIP has is massively out of tune on many issues: it's just that in their sudden rise in popularity, few people have heard those songs yet. I'm going to be listening, watching and scrutinising their every move over the next four years, and also working to ensure that our area gets proper representation and a fair deal: not miss out on opportunities.