Tag: ukip

Britse anti-EU partij beleeft doorbraak in Lagerhuis

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De Britse anti-EU partij UKIP heeft donderdag zijn eerste parlementszetel gewonnen. UKIP won de tussentijdse verkiezingen in de stad Clacton, aan de Engelse oostkust.

De politicus Douglas Carswell kreeg 60 procent van de stemmen. Hij krijgt hiermee zijn zetel in het Lagerhuis terug. Die gaf hij op, toen hij eind augustus overstapte van de Conservatieve partij naar UKIP.

De winst wordt door de Britse media gezien als een doorbraak voor de anti-immigratie beweging in het Verenigd Koninkrijk. De UKIP, met als belangrijkste punten het indammen van de immigratie en een vertrek van het land uit de Europese Unie, is al langer aan een opmars bezig.

Zo was UKIP bij de Europese verkiezingen van mei dit jaar de grootste van het land, met 27 procent van de stemmen. Bij de nationale verkiezingen in mei volgend jaar scoort de partij naar verwachting minder hoog: Labour staat in de peilingen bovenaan met 36 procent, gevolgd door de Conservatieven (31) en dan pas UKIP (16).

Bron: ANP via de Volkskrant

Douglas Carswell’s overstap naar UKIP schok voor Britse politieke systeem

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There are very few MPs I admire more than Douglas Carswell. He is principled, decent, and has gone into politics for all the right reasons. He believes in all the things to which ordinary politicians pay lip service, but in reality frighten them to death. Above all, Mr Carswell is an advocate of popular democracy: that is, that politics is an activity which concerns ordinary voters and not the views of the Westminster elite. He is a fountain of original ideas, many of which are to be found in his very important book The Plan: Twelve months to renew Britain. It is very interesting to note that the book was co-written with the brilliant conservative MEP (and fellow Telegraph blogger) Daniel Hannan.

But Mr Carswell cannot be dismissed as a naive or out of touch intellectual. Let us remember that it was five years ago that it was Carswell who set in motion the movement which swept Speaker Martin from office in the wake of the expenses scandal.

This is why I believe that Mr Carswell’s decision to quit the Tory party and join Nigel Farage’s Ukip is a seismic political event. He cannot be compared to the ordinary self-interested political defections, for instance Shaun Woodward or Quentin Davies’ departure from the Conservatives to New Labour, in 2001 and 2007 respectively. Mr Carswell, and this is completely terrifying for David Cameron, is acting out of conviction rather than self-interest. It is greatly to the credit of Mr Carswell that, in striking contrast to Woodward or Davies, he has called a by-election to fight his Essex constituency, where he may even stand a chance of success. If he wins, he will have broken every known rule of politics. It has always been assumed that the individual vote which an incumbent MP can attract is a fraction of that commanded by the party which he represents. If Mr Carswell carries Clacton, a political convulsion will have taken place.

Lees deze column van Peter Oborne verder op The Telegraph
Lees ook: Douglas Carswell – It’s time for change

Nigel Farage reveals he will quit politics… once he’s has UK out EU

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  • UKIP leader reveals ambitions ahead of European election results
  • Party is expected to gain more than 20 MEPs – a historic victory
  • Farage says idea of Tory majority at next General Election is ‘a fantasy’
  • He added that he plans to retire from politics by the time he turns 60
  • Aged 50 now, Farage hopes to have Britain out the EU within a decade

Rampant Nigel Farage aims to destroy the Tory Party, take over a new Right-wing British political party, get Britain out of the EU – and then quit politics. The UKIP leader’s breathtaking ambition, revealed in an interview with The Mail on Sunday, comes hours before he is set to achieve a historic victory in the European elections. The results from Thursday’s polling, announced today, are expected to show UKIP will have gained more than 20 MEPs, more than the Conservatives, with the possibility of a total wipeout of all Lib Dem MEPs.

Mr Farage rejects claims by David Cameron that UKIP’s challenge will fade away in next year’s General Election, and says today’s gains mark the beginning of the end of the Conservative Party. He aims to repeat the destruction two decades ago of Canada’s Conservative Party, when the rebel Right-wing Reform Party, compared by many to UKIP, sparked a political earthquake.n
In an interview with this newspaper earlier in the campaign, Mr Farage said a Canadian-style Tory meltdown ‘could happen’ here – and compared attacks on him to those on Reform Party leader Preston Manning and Reform’s first Canadian MP, schoolteacher Deborah Grey.

Lees verder op The Daily Mail

Whatever the European election result, Ukip has already won

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Ukip has changed the shape of politics – for the better.

Whether or not Ukip wins, this month’s European election campaign has belonged to one politician alone: Nigel Farage. Single-handedly he has brought these otherwise moribund elections to life. Single-handedly he has restored passion, genuine debate and meaning to politics. Single-handedly he has reinvented British democracy.

This is a superlative achievement, and Mr Farage deserves to be celebrated. Instead strenuous attempts have been made to turn him into a figure of odium and contempt. Farage has twice been physically assaulted, once when attacked with eggs whilst campaigning in Nottingham, once when struck on the head by a placard-bearing protester in Margate.

He has been labelled a racist and a fascist. There have been comparisons with Hitler. He has endured by far the most hostile press and media coverage of any mainstream politician in living memory — far more brutal than anything encountered by Neil Kinnock in 1987 and 1992.

Besides the smears, Mr Farage has endured intrusion into his private life. In the European parliament, Nikki Sinclaire used parliamentary privilege to accuse Mr Farage of having an affair with his press officer. This unproven allegation, denied by both parties, was reported at substantial length that night on BBC News at Ten.

Lees deze column door Peter Oborne verder op The Spectator

Cameron geeft garantie op EU-referendum

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David Cameron has pledged that he will not stand as prime minister after the next election unless he can secure a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU in 2017.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Mr Cameron said he could “absolutely’’ give a cast-iron guarantee that the vote would go ahead in 2017 if he returned to Downing Street and that he would stand down if he could not promise a referendum in a future coalition.

“I’ve said very clearly that whatever the outcome of the next election, and of course I want an overall majority, and I’m hoping and believing I can win an overall majority, but people should be in no doubt I will not become prime minister unless I can guarantee that we will hold that referendum,” he said.

Setting out his position ahead of the European Parliament elections later this month, the prime minister said he was “confident’’ that he could renegotiate the UK’s relationship with Brussels.

“I’m confident that I can achieve the objectives I’ve set out and I think the right way to go into a negotiation is with a confident and positive nature that you will get those changes, and I want to see Britain stay in a reformed European Union,” he said.

Lees verder op The Financial Times

UKIP en EU: Out of the EU, into the World

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Beginnen met de conclusie van een politieke verklaring is wat ongewoon maar het is soms beter om met de deur in huis te vallen.

Wat het VK nodig heeft is zijn huidige disfunctionele lidmaatschap van de EU op te zeggen en in te ruilen voor een nieuwe basis van vriendschap en vrijhandel. Onze relatie met de EU moet eerlijk en welvaart scheppend zijn.

The inconvenient truth voor het eurofiele establishment in het Verenigd Koninkrijk is, dat geen enkel land in de wereld heden ten dage lid moet zijn van een politieke unie om handel te kunnen drijven. Uit de politieke unie stappen is de beste weg vooruit voor de toekomst van ons land.

Het lezen van de 100+ pagina’s van “Out of the EU into the World” van UKIP, de UK Independence Party, is taaie kost maar de moeite waard. Het is geen wervende brochure vol gezwollen taal maar een coherente verzameling feiten en getallen die korte metten maken met de angstaanjagende taal over de economische gevolgen van het verlaten van de Europese Unie door Groot Brittannië gevolgd door een appendix met de bronnen. Het gaat over handel, immigratie en de houding van de EU tegenover het VK. Hieronder een kleine keuze uit de enorme veelheid gegevens. Het geheel lezen is een eye- opener en aanbevelenswaardig, ook om een beeld van de EU te krijgen. Het is misschien nieuw om te lezen dat UKIP de EU inderdaad beschouwt als een politieke unie maar uit de brochure, met ook vele grafieken en tabellen, komt duidelijk naar voren dat dat inderdaad zo is.

Lees verder op De Dagelijkse Standaard