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Originally Posted by GiRTh
Thanks for that. Good to have a close view of whats going on. 
Do these Tories actually see UKIP as an alternative? I shudder at the thought of people actually taking Farage seriously. I think its a very sorry state of affairs when a privileged ex banker like Farage is considered the voice of the people.
What about Labour? Do you think they have fallen so far that they're no longer the main opposition or do you think they can shine under these circumstances? |
I have far more time for MEPs than I do for MPs, generally. People assume they're all pro-Europe when in most cases, the reverse is true. And Farage has no respect amongst MEPs of all parties. He doesn't turn up to do his job, he misses votes... and yet he is supposed to be there representing the people who voted for him. He paints himself as a non-nonsense realist when in fact he's just rude. I think right now he's appealing to the disenfranchised right and they're the ones mostly voting for him because he knows eactly what they want to hear. But his policies are so sketchy it's hard to know what he's truly offering. He talks about a withdrawal from Europe but has no strategy for it, no plan, no idea how he'll fund it. And when it comes to domestic policies, all he has is a set of bullet points. If UKIP do well in the general election I think we're all doomed. They'll go through cash faster than Labour did.
Labour did a lot of damage when they were in. They took us to war on a lie, they sold our gold reserve at a record low price, the top rate of income tax was lower under them than is is under the Tories... there's a whole list of things they did that their supporters ought to remember, and one of the reasons the global recession hit us so hard is that Labour mishandled the economy. Having said that, people have notoriously short memories when it comes to governments, which is why we've had the Labour/Tory/Labour/Tory thing for so many years. In my opinion, the Conservatives' biggest weapon again Labour is actually Ed Miliband. He's almost as unpopular as Cameron.