National Liberal Debate 12 – What’s Our Take On UKIP? Have Your Say!
UKIPs Nigel Farage. Serious politician, clown or would-be Führer?
THE MANY problems faced by Britain – whether economic or social – are not going to be solved by screaming and shouting. Thus, the National Liberal Party is not interested in ‘hitting the headlines’ using the tired formula of macho–posturing and gesture politics. These problems will only be overcome by a combination of careful thought and action.
This means that we favour informed and reasoned debate. Here we concentrate on arguments, points of view and facts. We are not interested in personalities, prejudice or promoting self-interest.
The National Liberal Party seeks to build an organisation that encourages free speech and debate. To do this, we also attempt to take into consideration as many views as is possible in open debate. Thus, members and supporters are always encouraged to have their say.
We’re also interested in encouraging people to develop their debating skills. That’s why the NLP has introduced a new series of articles called Have Your Say! Whilst each subject will be announced on this web-site, they’ll be conducted in full on the National Liberals Facebook site, which can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/52739504313/?fref=ts
Before we start this debate we’d like to remind folks of our ground rules:
- First of all, say what you think – but think what you say.
- Secondly, just debate the issue(s) raised. There should be no personal attacks.
- As previously noted, we’re simply not interested in personalities.
- Please note that we may ask selected members and supporters to play ‘devil’s advocate’. Hopefully, this’ll help sharpen the debating skills of all involved!
- Finally, it should be remembered that all of the views expressed in Have Your Say! are personal and should not be taken to be the official view of the NLP itself.
Our latest question relates to the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP.) Now that the dust has settled on the European Elections – and all of the hullabaloo is over – how should we view UKIP?
There’s no denying that UKIP were the big winners of last month’s elections. They scooped 27.5% of the vote (+11% from the 2009 Euro-Elections) which gave them 23 MEPs. That’s a gain of 10 MEPs.
Yet they went into the Elections without a Manifesto! And it’s probably fair to say that the vast majority of voters have absolutely no idea what UKIP actually stand for – apart from their stance on the EU and immigration.
So what about UKIP? Are they racists and xenophobes as their detractors would say? Or are they simply articulating the genuine concerns of the British public?
In addition to this, we’d be interested to know how both the establishment and both the extreme left and right will react to the rise of UKIP. Will the Tories try to ape UKIP and talk ‘tough’ about the EU and immigration? Will the extreme left simply revert to type and launch a series of violent attacks on Nigle Farage and Co? Will the extreme right become more extreme to try and put clear water between themselves and UKIP?
Let us know your views – simply check out the debate at Facebook/National Liberals today!
• THIS ARTICLE should be read in conjunction with:
Ten Of The Best! (13/03/2014) http://nationalliberal.org/ten-of-the-best
National Liberal Debate 11 – Outside Of London Who Should National Liberals Vote For In The Euro-Elections? Have Your Say! (15/05/2014) http://nationalliberal.org/national-liberal-debate-11-%E2%80%93-outside-of-london-who-should-national-liberals-vote-for-in-the-euro-elections-have-your-say
Date: June 22, 2014
Categories: Articles