Let me start by saying this is the last thing I have to say about UKIP. I’ve bored you enough. God knows I’ve bored myself.
I do share links to this post to encourage viewers, but politics is something people understandably switch off from. Other people talking politics bores me, so why should I expect anyone to read on?
Politicians. They score cheap points against each other, like a pair of boxers throwing weak punches at each other, they tweet and sound bite, quote statistics and rarely inspire or excite us.
So then we have UKIP. Like Boris they say outlandish things, make a lot of us chuckle. They upset the norm, and win supporters because we just can’t abide what we already have.
But that doesn’t mean they could run the country well.
I’m all for protesting. Having an opinion. Standing up for what you believe in, but what is the flip side of a UKIP protest vote?
The EU is unpopular and I am sure can be run better, or if it’s really best for the country, why not leave? But I’m unsure it is bad for the UK. Surely if it was then at least one of the main parties would be advocating our withdrawal?
But onto what goes with voting UKIP? The more votes they get, the more the parties in power will try to appease the dissenting electorate.
Take the EU referendum the Conservatives have promised if they win the next election. That policy has been written to try and keep potential defectors voting UKIP, obviously.
The more UKIP grow in stature, the more the other parties will pinch their ideas in an attempt to pinch their voters.
So what else do UKIP stand for?
It’s not easy to find out. They don’t have a full suite of policies. I even asked a colleague of mine, (a former UKIP candidate in the last general election) what their policy on The Fire & Rescue Service is. He doesn’t know, and doesn’t think they have one.
They have lots of general principals on their website, but not much content. This, however, is lifted from the UKIP manifesto;
“Council tax should be as low as possible.”
What does that mean to a Firefighter?
Where do you think a great deal of finding comes from to pay your wages?
And what about the UKIP taxation policy? According to someone who understands taxation (here they are) it would lead to the wealthy paying less tax (not many Firefighters then!) and a big shortfall in public sector finance.
Don’t forget the lower Council Tax too.
The 2010 General Election manifesto stated they wanted to reduce spending to 1997 levels, costing perhaps up to 2 million public sector jobs, including Firefighters, and depriving or delaying those in need of vital services an opportunity for help.
UKIP are the right wing of the Conservatives, pure and simple. A smaller public sector, less tax for the wealthy, both of these are not good for us fighting fires.
Vote for them on Thursday, and watch them smugly claim they are growing in stature.
Then watch the other parties race to embrace their ideas for the 2015 general election.
And see if the UK is a better place to be for the majority.
By all means, use your vote to protest.
Just consider what other protesting you might need to do as a consequence.
Sussex to Suffolk 