Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 13:43, 11 May 2013

The UK Independence Party (UKIP, Ukip, /ˈjuːkɪp/ YEW-kip) is a Eurosceptic right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1993. The party describes itself in its constitution as a "democratic, libertarian party" and, as of April 2013, has a membership of 26,097.

UKIP currently has 11 of the 73 UK seats in the European Parliament, three members in the House of Lords, one seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly and 147 local councillors. The UKIP performance in the 2013 local election was the best result for a party outside the big three in British politics since the Second World War, coming fourth in the number of council seats won and third in terms of projected nationwide votes. UKIP has not won a seat in the House of Commons to date.

Nigel Farage is the leader of UKIP after being re-elected on 5 November 2010, having previously serving as leader from 2006 to 2009. Farage is a founding member of the party (from its formation as the Anti-Federalist League in 1991) and has been a UKIP Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 1999.

History

Founding and early years

UKIP was founded in 1993 by Alan Sked and other members of the all-party Anti-Federalist League – a political party set up in November 1991 with the aim of fielding candidates opposed to the Maastricht Treaty.

Its primary objective was withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. The new party attracted some members of the Eurosceptic wing of the Conservative Party, which was split on the European question after the pound was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992 and the struggle over ratification of the Maastricht Treaty. UKIP candidates stood in the 1997 general election, but were overshadowed by James Goldsmith's Referendum Party.

After the election, Sked resigned from the leadership and left the party because he felt "they are racist and have been infected by the far-right" and "doomed to remain on the political fringes". However, Goldsmith died soon after the election and the Referendum Party was dissolved, with a resulting influx of new UKIP supporters. The leadership election was won by the millionaire businessman Michael Holmes, and in the 1999 elections to the European Parliament UKIP gained three seats and 7% of the vote. In that election, Nigel Farage (South East England), Jeffrey Titford (East of England), and Michael Holmes (South West England) were elected.

Over the following months there was a power struggle between Holmes, and the party's National Executive Committee (NEC). This was partly due to Holmes making a speech perceived as calling for greater powers for the European Parliament against the European Commission. Ordinary party members forced the resignation of both Holmes and the entire NEC and Jeffrey Titford was subsequently elected leader. Holmes resigned from the party itself in March 2000. There was a legal battle when he tried to continue as an independent MEP until resigning from the European Parliament in December 2002, when he was replaced by Graham Booth, the second candidate on the UKIP list in South West England.

UKIP put up candidates in more than 420 seats in the 2001 general election, attaining 1.5% of the vote and failing to win any representation at Westminster. It also failed to break through in the elections to the Scottish Parliament or the Welsh Assembly, despite those elections being held under proportional representation. In 2002, Titford stood down as party leader, but continued to sit as a UKIP MEP. He was replaced as leader by Roger Knapman.

Kilroy Silk and UKIP under Knapman

The 2004 European elections provided UKIP's first major electoral victory, coming third with winning 12 MEPs elected. In the London Assembly elections the same year, UKIP won two London Assembly seats.

In late 2004, the mainstream UK press speculated on if or when the UKIP MEP, former Labour Party MP and chat-show host Robert Kilroy-Silk would take control of the party. These comments were heightened by Kilroy-Silk's speech at the UKIP party conference in Bristol on 2 October 2004, in which he called for the Conservative Party to be "killed off" following the by-election in Hartlepool, where UKIP finished third (with 10.2%) above the Conservatives in fourth (9.7%).

Interviewed by Channel 4 television, Kilroy-Silk did not deny having ambitions to lead the party, but stressed that Roger Knapman would lead it into the next general election. However, the next day, on Breakfast with Frost, he criticised Knapman's leadership. After further disagreement with the leadership, Kilroy-Silk resigned the UKIP whip in the European Parliament on 27 October 2004. Initially, he remained a member, while seeking a bid for the party leadership. However, this was not successful and he resigned completely from UKIP on 20 January 2005, calling it a "joke". Two weeks later, he founded his own party, Veritas, taking a number of UKIP members, including both of the London Assembly members, with him.

UKIP had hoped to sustain its momentum in the 2005 general election, but despite fielding 495 candidates, the party failed to achieve a breakthrough as it had in the European elections a year before. UKIP gained 618,000 votes, or 2.3% of the total votes cast in the election, an increase of 220,000 votes from its result in the 2001 general election. This placed it fourth in terms of total votes cast, behind the Liberal Democrats and ahead of the Scottish National Party. However, the party again failed to win any seats at Westminster. 45 UKIP candidates saved their deposits, up from only six in 2001. Its best performance was in Boston & Skegness, where its candidate Richard Horsnell came third with 9.6% of the vote.

Following the 2005 general election, Kilroy-Silk subsequently resigned from Veritas after its performance in the election, having harnessed only 40,000 votes.

2009 European elections

On 28 March 2009, the Conservative Party's biggest-ever donor, Stuart Wheeler, donated £100,000 to UKIP after criticising David Cameron's stance towards the Lisbon treaty and the European Union. He said, "If they kick me out I will understand. I will be very sorry about it, but it won't alter my stance." The following day, 29 March, he was expelled from the Conservative Party.

On 15 May 2009, a YouGov poll conducted for The Sun newspaper showed UKIP as having 15% of the vote for the impending European Elections, only 5% behind the Labour Party.

2010 general election

In September 2009, Nigel Farage announced that he would be resigning as leader of the party in order to stand for Parliament against the Speaker, John Bercow — an imperfectly observed convention states that the main parties do not normally nominate candidates against an incumbent Speaker. Malcolm Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch, Gerard Batten, Nikki Sinclaire, Mike Nattrass and Alan Wood stood for election as leader of the party, and Pearson won.

UKIP fielded 572 candidates in the 2010 general election; its main target seat was Buckingham, Bercow's constituency. UKIP hoped for a hung parliament in which the Liberal Democrats would drive through proportional representation as a key demand to form a coalition government. Lord Pearson asked some prospective candidates to stand down in favour of Eurosceptic Conservative and Labour MPs. However, some refused to do so. This did not stop Lord Pearson from campaigning on behalf of the Conservative candidates stating that he was "putting country before party". These decisions drew some criticism from within the party from the likes of Michael Heaver of Young Independence.

On the morning of polling day, Farage was injured when a passenger in a light aircraft which crashed near Brackley, Northamptonshire.

In the election the party polled 3.1% of the vote (919,471 votes), but took no seats. This made it the party with the largest percentage of the popular vote to win no seats in the election. (In a fully proportional system, 3.1% of 649 seats would be just over 20 seats.)

In UKIP's key target of Buckingham, Farage obtained just 17% of the vote – despite Lord Tebbit and numerous senior Conservatives voicing support for him and a Conservative Home online survey putting Farage on 64% and Bercow on 25%. Thus he came third behind Bercow and the independent John Stevens (Buckinghamshire Campaign for Democracy), who had previously resigned from the Conservatives to found the Pro-Euro Conservative Party. UKIP was also third in three other constituencies: North Cornwall, North Devon and Torridge and West Devon. Farage's result was the best of all constituencies that the party contested in that election. The constituency of Boston and Skegness also achieved a large percentage of vote, the party's second best in terms of percentage.

Leadership election, 2010

Lord Pearson resigned as leader in August 2010, and Farage was re-elected against Professor Tim Congdon, David Bannerman and Winston McKenzie with more than 60% of the vote. During his acceptance speech, he spoke out against the Coalition government, saying that the Conservative Party's policy on Europe can be summed up as: "Surrender, surrender, surrender."

Lord Pearson welcomed Farage's re-election, saying, "The UKIP crown returns to its rightful owner."

Since the 2010 general election

In two by-elections in early 2011, UKIP fared better than predicted, with its candidate Jane Collins coming second in Barnsley Central. Farage welcomed Collins's success and said that UKIP should now aim to replace the Liberal Democrats as the third largest party, saying: "The Lib Dems are no longer the voice of opposition in British politics – we are. Between now and the next general election our aim is to replace them as the third party in British politics."

UKIP fielded 1,217 candidates for the local council elections, a major increase over its previous campaigns, but not enough to qualify for a party election broadcast on television. UKIP said that the party was well-organised in the South East, South West and Eastern regions, but there were still places across the country where there were no UKIP candidates standing at all.

Across the country, many UKIP candidates came second or third. UKIP in Newcastle-under-Lyme gained a total of five seats on Newcastle Borough Council in 2007 and 2008 and three seats on Staffordshire County Council in 2009. Although UKIP did not poll well, it made gains across many parts of England, as well as taking control of Ramsey town council with nine UKIP councillors out of 17. The Chairman of Young Independence, Harry Aldridge, was enthusiastic about the results, saying, "What we have seen in these elections is a raft of enthusiastic first time candidates from YI, from whom we have got some very encouraging results." Whilst UKIP made gains and losses, the party fell short of Farage's predictions of major gains. The UKIP MEP Marta Andreasen called for Farage's resignation as leader of the party.

In October 2012, David McNarry, a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly who had been elected as an Ulster Unionist but was subsequently expelled from the party, joined UKIP, becoming its second representative in Northern Ireland alongside Henry Reilly, a councillor in Newry and Mourne.

On 29 November 2012, UKIP finished in second place in the 2012 Rotherham by-election, with 4,648 votes (21.7% of the votes cast). This was the highest percentage share recorded by UKIP in any parliamentary election (although it had polled a greater number of votes in both the 2012 Corby by-election and in Buckingham in the 2010 general election, where its candidate was Nigel Farage). Its candidate, Jane Collins, had previously been the only UKIP candidate to come second in any UK parliamentary election at Barnsley Central in 2011. UKIP also came second in 2012 in the Middlesbrough by-election and third in the Croydon North by-election, which were held on the same day as Rotherham.

During 2012 and early 2013, UKIP's popularity in opinion polls increased, with many polls indicating that it had overtaken the Liberal Democrats for third place.

During the Eastleigh by-election on 28 February 2013, the party's candidate Diane James polled the highest percentage (27.8%) and number of votes (11,571) ever for a UKIP parliamentary candidate. UKIP came second, 4.26% (1,771 votes) behind the Liberal Democrats who retained the seat. The Conservatives were pushed into third place with a quarter of the vote and the Labour Party into fourth place with less than 10% of the vote.

In the run-up to the 2013 local elections, UKIP continued to do well in opinion polls and put up a record number of candidates for the party, despite a number of controversies over individual candidates in the weeks before the elections with the BBC reporting that UKIP was investigating "six candidates over links to the BNP and other far right groups or alleged racist and homophobic comments, following stories in national and local newspapers." Several candidates were suspended from the party for racist views. UKIP accused the Conservative Party's Central Office of trawling through candidates' online presences to "smear" the party, but acknowledged that it did not have the time or money to vet all of its candidates.

In the 2013 county council elections across England, the party achieved its best ever local government result, polling an average of 23% in the wards it stood and returning 147 elected councillors. It made significant gains in Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Kent taking 15, 16 and 17 seats respectively. It was described as the best result for a party outside the big three in British politics since the Second World War.

Party leadership

List of Leaders of the party

National Executive Committee

• Executive chairman: Steve Crowther

Ex-officio members

• Party director: Lisa Duffy, Mayor of Ramsey
• Party treasurer: Stuart Wheeler
• Party secretary: Michael Greaves
• General secretary: Jonathan Arnott

Committee Members

• MEP for London: Gerard Batten
• London region: Steven Woolfe
• North West region: Louise Bours
• South East region: Doug Denny
• South West region: Neil Hamilton
• Eastern region: George Curtis
• South West region: Hugh Williams (Deputy Treasurer)
• London region: David Coburn

Policies

Although UKIP's original raison d'être was withdrawal from the European Union it was felt that the public perception of the party as a single-issue party – despite issuing a full manifesto – was damaging electoral progress. Farage, on becoming leader, started a wide-ranging policy review, his stated aim being "the development of the party into broadly standing for traditional conservative and libertarian values". In its 2010 general election manifesto, UKIP emphasises its belief in civic nationalism, which it claims "is open and inclusive to anyone who wishes to identify with Britain, regardless of ethnic or religious background" and contrasts it with the "blood and soil" nationalism of extremist parties.

Europe

UKIP advocates leaving the European Union, resulting in stopping payments to the EU and withdrawal from EU treaties, while maintaining trading tries with other European countries.

Taxation and Economy

UKIP proposes cuts in corporation taxes and the abolition of inheritance taxes. A flat rate of tax and the abolition of national insurance are advocated, which UKIP claims will simplify the tax system, although it is currently unclear what this flat tax rate would be set at. . UKIP proposes "tens of billions" of cuts to taxation, along with a further £77bn of cuts to the public sector in order to reduce the deficit.

LGBT issues

In November 2012, David Coburn of UKIP's National Executive Committee clarified the party's policies and positions with regard to LGBT issues: the party supports civil partnerships but opposes legalisation of same-sex marriage because of concerns that a law change could mean that faith groups and places of worship would be forced to perform same-sex marriages.

UKIP has an LGBT wing: Lgbtq*. The group's slogan is "Britain Should be Out and Proud". Its logo is the party's logo in pink mounted on to a circular badge shape form of the traditional LGBT flag as a background.

Representatives

House of Commons

Whilst UKIP has not won a seat in the House of Commons, the party has had representation (albeit for only a relatively short time) when Dr Bob Spink, MP for Castle Point, resigned from the Conservative Party and joined UKIP on 21 April 2008. (In the UK, MPs are not required to resign as MPs if they change their party allegiance.) However, by November 2008, Spink had left UKIP having found himself at odds with party colleagues on various issues. UKIP has no representation in the House of Commons currently.

House of Lords

On 24 June 1995, UKIP gained its first member of the House of Lords in the form of Richard Norton, 8th Baron Grantley, who had joined the party in 1993 from the Conservatives and had recently succeeded to his father's titles. However, with the coming House of Lords Act 1999, he decided not to stand for election as a continuing member, and so left the House in November 1999. Lords Pearson of Rannoch and Willoughby de Broke both defected to UKIP on 7 January 2007, giving the party its first representation in the House of Lords since Lord Grantley's departure. Lord Pearson went on to serve as party leader from November 2009 to September 2010. On 18 September 2012, David Stevens, Baron Stevens of Ludgate joined UKIP, having sat as an Independent Conservative since his expulsion from the Conservatives in 2004.

Northern Ireland Assembly

On 4 October 2012 UKIP gained its first representation in the Northern Ireland Assembly following the defection of David McNarry MLA for Strangford, who had been sitting as an independent, following his suspension from the Ulster Unionist Party.

Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament

UKIP do not currently have any representatives in the other devolved nations of Scotland or Wales. UKIP fielded 29 candidates at the Scottish Parliament election on 5 May. The party also fielded candidates for the Welsh Assembly.

European Parliament

In 1999, three UKIP members were elected to the European Parliament. Together with Eurosceptics from other countries, they formed a grouping called Europe of Democracies and Diversities (EDD).

In 2004, 37 MEPs from the UK, Poland, Denmark and Sweden founded a new European Parliamentary group called Independence and Democracy (ID) from the old EDD group. However, following the European Parliament election, 2009, where Eurosceptic parties from Denmark, Sweden and elsewhere lost all representation, the ID group was dissolved.

UKIP has since formed a new right-wing grouping called Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) comprising nationalist, Eurosceptic, conservative and other political factions. This group is more right wing than the older Independence and Democracy grouping.

UKIP MEP Nikki Sinclaire was expelled from UKIP after resigning from the EFD grouping, citing her displeasure at what she perceived to be racist and extremist parties that belong to the EFD Group. Sinclaire also cited the deterioration of her relationship with Farage, the co-leader of the EFD group.

Sinclaire was subsequently expelled from UKIP for refusing to be part of the EFD group. She later won a sex discrimination claim against her former colleagues, to which UKIP did not lodge a defence, and the ruling went against the party by default.

In February 2013 Marta Andreasen defected from UKIP to the Conservative Party. Two weeks prior to her defection Andreasen had accused Farage of bullying and being "anti-women" and "a Stalinist". She was UKIP's sole remaining female MEP after the 2009 expulsion of Nikki Sinclaire.

Current Members of the European Parliament

UKIP has 11 Members in the European Parliament. Trevor Colman has left the EFD grouping but still stands for UKIP . Roger Helmer was elected as a Conservative MEP but defected to UKIP in March 2012.

Local government

The first UKIP local council election win occurred when one of their members was elected to South Cambridgeshire District Council in 2000. A number of Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Labour and Independent local councillors in all four constituent nations of the UK have defected to UKIP over subsequent years. In the May 2012 local elections, UKIP won a total of 7 seats in England out of 2,414 (no change on the previous year), 2 seats in Wales out of 1,223 (up 1) and no seats in Scotland out of 1,220 (down 1). It failed to win any seats in the London Assembly, coming fifth overall with 4.5% of the vote. In November that year, it failed to win any seats in the England and Wales Police and Crime Commissioner elections.

On 6 May 2011, the party won nine of the seventeen seats for Ramsey Town Council in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. Before the election, the party had only one seat in the town council. On 12 May, UKIP councillor Lisa Duffy was elected as Mayor. The UKIP group leader for Huntingdonshire District Council said that the town council under UKIP would "be standing up for volunteers and the third sector and will be making grants to them to help the big society develop." The Daily Mail has claimed that UKIP "has made political history after taking control of its first council in the UK".

Voter base

In 2011, the British academics Matthew Goodwin, Robert Ford and David Cutts published a study that identified Euroscepticism as the main causal factor for voters supporting UKIP, with concern over immigration levels and distrust of the political establishment also featuring as important motives. The average UKIP voter was 55 year, which is older than voters in others parties. There was no correlation between social class and likelihood of voting UKIP, although UKIP voters tended to feel more financially insecure than the average voter. The skilled working class were found to be slightly overrepresented amongst UKIP voters, and there was a higher likelihood that a UKIP had grown up in a conservative supporting household compared to the average voter.

In the same year, a study by Richard Whitaker and Philip Lynch of the University of Leicester based on polling data from YouGov concluded that "the balance of attitudinal explanations of UKIP support makes its voters distinct from those voting for far right parties". The authors found that voter support for UKIP correlated with concerns about the value of immigration, hostility to immigrants and a lack of trust in the political system but the biggest explanatory factor for their support of UKIP was Euroscepticism.

In May 2013, Stephan Shakespeare, the CEO of YouGov analysed the reasons for the strong support and performance of UKIP in the 2013 local elections. He observed that voter research showed UKIP had "very loyal" followers, with a high proportion of ex-Conservative voters, and that the primary reason for support was a sense by voters that UKIP "seemed to be on the same wavelength" as the population, was perceived as "genuine" and "simply different", and by tapping into the "anti-politics mood" became contrasted strongly with "the others haven't got a clue about the real world". He concluded that "you just don't get this with other party leaders, not even from their supporters". Noting also that 23% of voters reported giving "serious consideration" to voting UKIP, and that non-UKIP voters were "only half as likely to mention immigration or Europe" as existing UKIP voters, he also concluded that these potential voters were "best won" by providing a "broad agenda".

See also

• Bruges Group (Eurosceptic thinktank)
• Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom
• Opinion polling for the next United Kingdom general election

References

1. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/33d9fc2e-b727-11e2-841e-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F33d9fc2e-b727-11e2-841e-00144feabdc0.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FER3NT1vLWS#axzz2SiPOZcp3
2. "Ukip are true libertarians | Ed Rooksby | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk". Guardian. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
3. "Local elections: What does UKIP stand for?". BBC. 3 may 2013. They can broadly be seen as right wing, with a strong libertarian flavour and a dash of social conservatism. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. Robinson, Chris (13). Electoral Systems and Voting in the United Kingdom. Edinburgh University Press. p. 203. ISBN 978-0748627509. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
5. Aylott, Nicholas (18). Political Parties in Multi-Level Polities: The Nordic Countries Compared. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 2009. ISBN 978-0230243736. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
6. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArjWCrWPsXzRdDI3ZjlpSHZPNWdjMjd3Q24zSzd0LWc&usp=sharing
7. Fieschi, Catherine (15 June 2004). "The new avengers". The Guardian. London: Guardian News & Media. Retrieved 13 November 2008.
8. Wolfram Nordsieck. "Parties and Elections in Europe: The database about parliamentary elections and political parties in Europe, by Wolfram Nordsieck". Parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
9. Abedi, Amir; Lundberg, Thomas Carl (2009). "Doomed to Failure? UKIP and the Organisational Challenges Facing Right-Wing Populist Anti-Political Establishment Parties". Parliamentary Affairs. 62 (1). Oxford: 72–87. doi:10.1093/pa/gsn036Template:Inconsistent citations{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
10. Benedetto, Giacomo (2006). "The United Kingdom: Position taking and the protection of red lines" (Document). Routledge. p. 235. The UK Independence Party is a right-wing 'new populist' party... {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |work= ignored (help)
11. Owen Jones: Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class, p 245, Verso 2011
    David Art, Inside the Radical Right, p 188, Cambridge University Press, 2011
    Stephen Driver. Understanding British Party Politics, p 151, Polity Press 2011
    Daniel Trilling, Bloody Nasty People: The Rise of Britain's Far Right, p 154, Verso 2012
12. "Constitution of the UK Independence Party". Retrieved 31 August 2012. Objectives: 2.5 The Party is a democratic, libertarian Party
13. "Conservative grassroots activists defect to Ukip". Financial Times. 7 May 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
14. ^ "Strangford MLA David McNarry joins UK Independence Party". BBC. 4 October 2012.
15. ^ http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/local/mcnarry-set-to-join-ukip-1-4333665
16. ^ "Local elections 2013: Nigel Farage's Ukip surges to best ever showing, winning 150 seats". Telegraph. 5 April 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
17. ^ "Local Council Elections: UKIP Make Big Gains". News.sky.com. 4 May 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
18. ^ "Anti-EU party shakes British PM's Conservatives in local vote". Reuters. 3 May 2013.
19. "Local elections: Nigel Farage hails results as a 'game changer'". BBC.
20. "Nigel Farage re-elected to lead UK Independence Party". BBC News. 5 November 2010.
21. "About UKIP".
22. Cohen, Nick (6 February 2005). "Nick Cohen: No truth behind Veritas". The Guardian. London.
23. "Scottish election: UK Independence Party profile". BBC. London. 13 April 2011.
24. "Result: Boston & Skegness". BBC News.
25. Coates, Sam (29 March 2009). "Tory donor Stuart Wheeler faces expulsion over UKIP support". The Times. London. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
26. "UK | Tory party to expel donor Wheeler". BBC News. 29 March 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
27. "Farage to stand against Speaker". London: BBC News. 3 September 2009.
28. "Nigel Farage injured in plane crash on election day". BBC News. 6 May 2010. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
29. "Electoral Commission website". Electoralcommission.org.uk. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
30. "BBC NEWS – Election 2010". BBC News. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
31. "Election 2010 | Buckingham". BBC News. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
32. Gabbatt, Adam (17 August 2010). "Lord Pearson stands down as Ukip leader because he is 'not much good'". The Guardian. London.
33. Barnett, Ruth (5 November 2010). "Nigel Farage Re-Elected UKIP Party Leader". Sky News Online. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
34. "Farage wants UKIP to become Britain's 'third party'". BBC News. 5 March 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
35. "We can become third biggest British party, claims UKIP leader after Lib Dems' Barnsley by-election bashing". Daily Mail. London. 5 March 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
36. "English local elections: UKIP hopes to make gains". BBC News. 26 April 2011.
37. "YI make elections inroads - UK Independence Party". Ukip.org. 7 May 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
38. "Call for UKIP's Nigel Farage to resign as double act turns sour". BBC News. 10 May 2011.
39. "McNarry joining UKIP after UUP departure - UTV Live News". U.tv. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
40. Aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk Aylesbury Vale District Council
41. "BBC.co.uk". BBC News. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
42. See Opinion polling for the next United Kingdom general election for detail, including a list of every opinion poll carried out in 2012.
43. ^ "BBC News - Local election 2013: Ken Clarke brands UKIP 'clowns'". Bbc.co.uk. 28 April 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
44. By KEVIN SCHOFIELD, Chief Political Correspondent (27 April 2013). "Fury at UKIP 'fruit loops' being fielded at council elections | The Sun |News|Politics". The Sun. Retrieved 3 May 2013. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
45. "East Sussex UKIP election candidate in holocaust storm (From The Argus)". Theargus.co.uk. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
46. Duffin, Claire (5 March 2013). "Ukip candidate: 'PE prevents people becoming gay'". Telegraph. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
47. Hall, Melanie. "Ukip candidate suspended over Nazi salute". Telegraph. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
48. "Ukip will change face of British politics like SDP, says Nigel Farage". The Guardian. 3 May 2013.
49. "Send in the clowns!". The Economist. 3 May 2013.
50. "UKIP NEC". UKIP. 22 January 2013.
51. Will Woodward, "UKIP trebles candidates for local elections", The Guardian, 11 April 2007
52. "UKIP Manifesto Empowering the people". Retrieved 10/05/2013. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
53. ^ "Local elections: What does UKIP stand for?". BBC. 3. Retrieved 10 May 2013. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
54. Watson, Nick (5 October 2006). "West Midlands: On the Coleshill trail". The Politics Show. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
55. Roberts, Scott. "UKIP 'not against gay adoption' says London chairman". PinkNews.co.uk. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
56. Roberts, Scott (25 September 2012). "UKIP approves internal LGBT campaign group". Pink News.
57. "Conservative peers defect to UKIP". BBC News. 9 January 2007. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
58. "Former Conservative peer Lord Stevens to join UK Independence Party". Bbc.co.uk. 18 September 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
60. "Scottish election: UKIP calls for abolition of MSPs". Bbc.co.uk. 4 April 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
61. "UKIP Polling at 12%". UKIP Wales. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
62. "UKIP forms new Eurosceptic group". BBC News. BBC. 1 July 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
63. ^ "Rebel Euro MP Nikki Sinclaire expelled by UKIP". BBC News Online. Retrieved 23 February 2013. Cite error: The named reference "BBCMar10" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
64. ^ "UKIP MEP Marta Andreasen defects to Conservatives". BBC News Online. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
65. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/vote2012/council/england.stm
66. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/vote2012/council/wales.stm
67. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/vote2012/council/scotland.stm
68. "UKIP makes history by taking its first council". Daily Mail. London. 15 May 2011.
69. Ford, Robert; Goodwin, Matthew J.; Cutts, David (2011). "Strategic Eurosceptics and Polite Xenophobes: Support for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in the 2009 European Parliament Elections". European Journal of Political Research. 51 (2): 204. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6765.2011.01994.x. Retrieved 18 November 2011Template:Inconsistent citations {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
70. Whitaker, Richard; Lynch, Philip (2011). "Explaining Support for the UK Independence Party at the 2009 European Parliament Elections". Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties. 21 (Volume 21, Issue 3): 359. doi:10.1080/17457289.2011.588439. Retrieved 18 April 2013Template:Inconsistent citations {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
71. Skakespeare, Stephan (3 May 2013). "Farage fans display a devotion that no other leader can inspire". The Times. p. 4.

External links

• Official website
• UKIP in the European Parliament – UKIP MEPs' website
• Official UKIP local councillors
• UKIP's MEPs explain their aims

• Ill-formatted IPAc-en transclusions
• Use dmy dates from January 2013
• United Kingdom Independence Party
• Conservative parties in the United Kingdom
• Eurosceptic parties in the United Kingdom
• Libertarian parties in the United Kingdom
• Nationalist parties in the United Kingdom
• Political parties established in 1993
• Right-wing populism
• 1993 establishments in the United Kingdom