France’s Marine Le Pen and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders are struggling to find enough supporters in the European Parliament to form a Euroskeptic bloc of their own while the group led by Britain’s Nigel Farage appeared to have won a new member on Wednesday: Italy’s Five Star Movement. Read more “Le Pen Struggles to Find Allies. Farage Finds Italian Friend”
The rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party in Thursday’s local elections was a “very English anti-establishment revolt,” wrote the BBC’s Nick Robinson on Friday. People didn’t vote for Nigel Farage’s party so as much as “none of the above” to express their discontent with the other three major parties.
UKIP, a right-wing party that advocates a British exit from the European Union, lower taxes and tougher immigration laws, didn’t manage to take control of any of the 35 English county legislatures that were up for reelection but got 23 percent support across the country. Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives won just a quarter of the votes, down from 33 percent four years ago. Read more “Euroskeptics Lead English “Revolt” Against Major Parties”
Nigel Farage on Sunday ruled out a coalition with Britain’s Conservative after the next election unless there is a change in leadership. “With David Cameron as leader, that is virtually impossible to even contemplate,” he said on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show.
The premier, said Farage, who is a member of the European Parliament, has dismissed his United Kingdom Independence Party even if it now polls higher than Cameron’s coalition partners, the pro-European Liberal Democrats.
Mr Cameron, whenever he’s asked about UKIP, just throws abuse at us and calls us nutters and closet racists so I don’t think there’s any prospect of us doing a deal with the Conservative Party with Mr Cameron in charge.
On the same program, William Hague, the former Conservative Party leader and incumbent foreign minister, promised, “In the end, the people will have their say in general elections,” but wouldn’t express support for a referendum on British membership outright. Read more “Farage Rejects Coalition With Cameron’s Conservatives”
Could 2012 be the year that the United Kingdom Independence Party breaks into the British political system as more than a Euroskeptic platform? The scenario looks more likely after last week’s local elections. Nigel Farage’s party averaged 13 percent of the vote.
In the last month, according to a YouGov poll, UKIP was the third most popular party in the United Kingdom. They have doubled their support since last year and surpassed the Liberal Democrats, currently in government with the Conservatives, by 1 percentage point. Read more “UK Independence Party Appeals to Right-Wing Voters”
