Economic Aspect: Brexit; Macro economic challenges faced EU
dpa news Article page ( Release 2.1.9 )
1. Friday, 05. July 2013
10:27Keywords: EU, external relations
UKIP - The rising star of British
politics
By Daniel O'Brien, dpa
The vote surge recorded by Britain's anti-EU UKIP in
recent local polls may spill over into the 2014
European elections and could undermine the efforts
of those who want to keep Britain in the EU.
United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) leader, Nigel Farage.
EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA
Brussels (dpa Insight) - Proudly displaying the symbol of
the Pound sterling on its emblem and espousing a mix of
law-and-order, anti-immigration and anti-EU policies, the
UK Independence Party (UKIP), is Britain's fastest growing
political force.
It first made its mark on the political scene by winning 12
seats in the 2004 European Parliament elections. More
recently, the significant gains it made in recent local
government elections has caused many commentators to
sit up and take notice.
In particular many are pondering what impact the party's
growing popularity will have on Britain's ongoing
membership of the EU, an issue which Prime Minister
David Cameron has pledged to put to a national
referendum.
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2. UKIP was founded in 1993 at the London School of
Economics, since then UKIP has evolved from a eurosceptic
pressure group into a flourishing political force to the right
of the mainstream Conservatives. This is borne out by a
series of recent opinion polls: YouGov put the level of
public support for UKIP at 15 per cent - 4 points ahead of
the Liberal Democrats, the junior partner in Cameron's
ruling coalition.
The most recent ICM/Guardian poll put UKIP's support
equal with the Liberal Democrats at 12 per cent. In 2013
UKIP has consistently polled in double figures with some
surveys suggesting levels as high as 22 per cent.
Tory divisions
All of this comes against a backdrop of Conservative Party
division fuelled by protest from the eurosceptic wing of the
party that has led to a number of high profile rebellions
within its ranks. The first significant signs of disagreement
came in 2011 when Cameron was the victim of the largest
rebellion in Conservative (Tory) history over the issue of
Europe. Some 81 Tory members of parliament broke with
the party line to back a House of Commons motion calling
for a referendum on British membership of the EU.
Cameron was forced to concede to the pressure from
Conservative eurosceptics and agreed to an in/out
referendum by 2017.
The UKIP's star began to rise in 2009 when it won 13 seats
in the European Parliament - garnering 16.5 per cent of
the vote and came second to the Conservatives, but polled
ahead of the Liberal Democrats and Labour. UKIP
candidates immediately joined the Europe for Freedom and
Democracy Group, taking a majority position alongside
nine Italian MEPs and an assortment of mostly nationalist
or regionalist MEPs from other countries.
The success of UKIP suggests that a substantial proportion
of the British public harbour strong feelings of suspicion
and mistrust for the European Union. Indeed in the most
recent EuroBarometer polls, 65 per cent of British
respondents said that they "tended not to trust" the
European Parliament.
UKIP at the European Parliament
UKIP's leader, Nigel Farage,, has been outspoken in his
criticism of the EU - particularly in speeches before the
European Parliament. In February 2010, in an address on
the subject of the newly appointed European Council
President Herman Van Rompuy, Farage said that the EU's
new top official had "the charisma of a damp rag and the
appearance of a low grade bank clerk". He went on to
dismiss Belgium, Van Rompuy's homeland and the seat of
the EU main institutions, as "pretty much a non-country".
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3. Farage’s blunt criticism of the EU stems from UKIP position
that the EU is an inherently undemocratic organisation
that pays scant regard to the principle of sovereignty and
democracy. Farage often claims to speak on behalf of the
British and European people and in 2010 he claimed that
"increasingly people are saying we don't want that flag, we
don't want that anthem and we don't want this political
class - we want the whole thing confined to the dustbin of
history".
## Policies
UKIP has been accused of being a single policy party - with
its primary focus being Britain's exit from the EU. However
for Farage, leaving the EU is a means to an end. UKIP
believes that leaving the EU will allow Britain to close its
borders to foreign immigrants, drop the European
Convention on Human Rights and restore national
sovereignty to the United Kingdom.
Supporting tax avoidance
UKIP has a controversial position on the issue of tax and
tax avoidance. The issue of tax avoidance and so-called
fiscal paradises has been prominent in European policy-
making in 2013 and throughout the debate, UKIP has
remained critical of what it has described as the fanfare
surrounding the problem. In a speech on behalf of the EFD
group to the European Parliament, Farage defended tax
avoidance as "legal" and contended that the solution to tax
avoidance was to dramatically drop taxes and simplify the
tax laws - as Britain and the US did in the 1980s. Farage
has also been defiant in his opposition to the financial
transaction tax proposed in late 2012 and which he sees
as a tax on the City of London. He went further by saying
that he thought that the measures were "put in place to
damage financial markets and in particular to damage
Britain."
Questioning climate change
An equally controversial aspect of UKIP policy is its
position on climate and energy. Climate is an area of
particular focus for UKIP in Europe. Generally speaking,
UKIP members are climate change sceptics. They believe
that EU energy policy is bad for competitiveness and is
restraining British industry.
UKIP MEP, Roger Helmer, has said that EU Climate policies
"drive up energy costs, forcing industries, investment, and
jobs out of the EU altogether." His fellow party member
and MEP, Paul Nuttall, has spoken out in favour of
exploration for shale gas and has argued that fracking for
shale gas in the North West of the UK would "reduce
energy prices by up to 30 per cent, which would be a
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4. welcome break for hard-working people in the UK in a time
of recession." Farage himself commented in May 2013 that
the EU had an "obsession with global warming, which ...
means we are despoiling our landscapes and seascapes
with these disgusting wind turbines and driving up energy
prices."
Immigration and "benefits tourism" from Romania and
Bulgaria
In recent months UKIP has been accused by critics of
exploiting fears in Britain over mass immigration from
Bulgaria and Romania. A poster campaign proclaiming:
"Next year, the EU will allow 29 million Bulgarians and
Romanians to come to the UK" has sparked heated
controversy from liberals who believe the campaign to be
misleading and provocative. Romanian and Bulgarian
government estimates suggests that as few as 25,000 of
their nationals will travel to Britain in 2014.
Still, with European Parliament elections set for May 2014,
the UKIP is expected to exploit fears over so-called
benefits tourism from Romania and Bulgaria in order to
syphon-off support from the Tories.
A 2012 study (see Weblinks) found that many UKIP
supporters were less concerned with the European Union
than with immigration and the "dysfunctional" welfare
system that the UKIP portrays as a symptom of European
integration.
The UKIP's frequent use of "us and them" rhetoric has led
many to accuse the party of xenophobia. In 2006,
Cameron was quoted as saying that UKIP represented a
group of ‘fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists.’
Sexism and homophobia
In one such case, John Sullivan, a UKIP local council
candidate, was embroiled in a scandal after claiming that
physical exercise could prevent boys from becoming gay.
In an earlier incident, Winston McKenzie, UKIP’s Culture,
Media and Sports spokesperson drew condemnation after
he was reported as saying that it was abuse to “to say to a
child: 'I am having you adopted by two men who kiss
regularly but don't worry about it.”
Godfrey Bloom, MEP for the Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire
region has frequently been criticized for his outbursts such
as one in 2010, when, during a debate on gender equality
in the European Parliament, the UKIP lawmaker said that
"you would have to be stark staring mad to employ a
young woman if you have a small business."
The UKIP is strongly against all forms of so-called positive
discrimination or affirmative action such as gender quotas,
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5. but this is a view that the party's MEPs share with some of
their more mainstream colleagues in the European
Parliament. However, issues surrounding the UKIP's
attitudes towards women recently culminated with the
resignation of senior UKIP MEP Marta Andreasen who
defected to the Conservative Party after accusing Farage of
bullying and being ‘anti-women’. Andreasen was the last
remaining female MEP for UKIP.
Absenteeism
Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats for Europe grouping in the European
Parliament confronted Farage in 2012 over the latter's
poor parliamentary attendance. Verhofstadt, a Belgian
MEP, said: "Mr Farage, let us be honest about it. You are a
member of the Committee on Fisheries, for example, and
you are never there, never! In 2011, no attendance. In
2012, no attendance... you come here saying that the
salaries that are paid are a scandal, and you pay yourself a
salary without doing any work in your own committee."
Farage’s participation in roll call votes in the European
Parliament is less than 50 per cent. His colleague Godfrey
Bloom only achieved 32 per cent while UKIP deputy leader,
Paul Nuttall, also fell below 50 per cent participation in roll
call voting.
What the future may hold
Despite heavy criticism from the political mainstream,
UKIP looks set to increase its share of the vote in the 2014
European parliament elections. A recent ComRes poll on
European Parliament voting intentions from January put
UKIP share of the vote at 23 per cent ahead of the
Conservatives on 22 per cent
Latest YouGov opinion polls show that around 43 per cent
of voters would opt out of the EU with only 35 per cent
choosing to remain in the bloc. With such a strong wind in
UKIP’s sails, UK membership in the European Union may
be under threat.
## Weblinks.
--> [UKIP website] (http://dpaq.de/2jens)
--> [EU Referendum Polling YouGov] (http://dpaq.de
/yK3cW)
--> [Godfrey Bloom’s Speech on Equality between women
and men - 2010] (http://dpaq.de/CfZQP)
--> [Votes made by UKIP MEPs] (http://dpaq.de/h5Ylq)
--> [MORI/Standard poll June 12, 2013] (http://dpaq.de
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