Ok, Let's Take UKIP Seriously.

Independent.co.uk

 As expected, UKIP did pretty well in the local elections. The New Statesman's George Eaton has analysed the results here with an aaverage of around 26% of the vote in most wards it was present in.  And with its success blocking any Tory strategy to sieze councils, UKIP will find themselves as the main opposition in many authorities, and will likely be the winners in the 2014 European elections. In fact, the UKIP hit has been so intense that Tory chairman Grant Shapps has finally acknowledged the needs to take the party seriously. 

So what happened? If anyone watched Question Time last night (on an unrelated note, it was held at my old school), most people asked did vote as a form of protest. Reasons that were cited included the 'disconnect' with mainstream parties, parties going against their manifesto pledges, and what seemed to be failing politics. It wasn't that UKIP offered a better alternative (as has been stated before, nobody really knows their policies beyond their stances on immigration and the EU), it was that Farage didn't do politics speak. Yet.

Now with UKIP's greater level of representation, will come new challenges and responsibilities. Indeed, anti-politics is great in terms of electoral campaigns, but not so good when it comes to putting words into action. Unless UKIP councillors can show that they can defend people's interests on a local level, they will find it very difficult when it comes to contesting seats come the general election in 2015.


The media have inevitably gotten into a frenzy about this, including those who played up Farage over the past few months, particularly the Telegraph. As James Moore argues in the Independent today, it is now only right to give UKIP what they've been craving- a place in the political mainstream.  The media should now be seriously engaging with the party over issues to do with the costs of EU exit, its stances on controversial social issues like immigration, and, scrutinise its solutions on how to stimulate economic growth. These are far beyond the questions that UKIP currently faces, where for the most part both newsrooms and political strategy unites have treated it like an outlier.


I would say that we should let UKIP have its fifteen minutes for the moment. It has shaken up the traditional structure of politics, and has at least made future predictions a bit more interesting. But after its time in the sun, Farage and his party should wholeheartedly be brought into the fold of mainstream politics- where deals have to be done, and comprimises have to be made. Judging by the state of the Liberal Democrats at the moment, it's not likely to end well.