UKIP in 3rd Place in Polls

The UK Independence Party has surged to a record poll rating, knocking the Liberal Democrats into fourth place.

The ComRes poll for The Independent On Sunday and the Sunday Mirror put UKIP on 14% - a six-point gain on last month and the party's highest rating in a ComRes poll.

Two other polls in Sunday newspapers - the Observer’s Opinium and the Mail On Sunday Survation - also put UKIP at 14%.

The findings will alarm Tory MPs who fear the party is haemorrhaging support over issues such as Europe, the economy and its support for gay marriage.

The ComRes poll, which interviewed 2,002 people online between December 12 and 14, put the Conservatives on 28%, down three points from a month ago and 11 points behind Labour, who are down four on 39%.

Support for the Lib Dems is down to single figures at 9%, a one-point fall on the month, which puts five points between them and Nigel Farage's party.
ComRes/Independent On Sunday/Sunday Mirror
Mr Farage told Sky News: "All the way through UKIP's history people have doubted what UKIP can achieve.

"We've shown in the last two European elections what we're capable of - and I would remind people in 2009 that we came second across the entire United Kingdom.

"And what's happened in 2012 is that all the big issues that we've campaigned long and hard for for many, many years - and taken much abuse for - those issues have become absolutely at the centre ground of what people out there are talking about.

"Unless we see some really substantial change from the Government and from the Labour party in particular - with a U-turn on Europe, open-door immigration, gay marriage and other things - there's no reason to think that this level of support for UKIP can't be maintained."

Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles told Sky's Murnaghan programme that he takes UKIP, which he describes as "a party of dissent", very seriously.

"They represent a voice, and I am very firmly of the view the only way to deal with them is to get dug in, and to fight them on the ground on community issues," he said.

But Mr Pickles said this does not mean the Tories should not form a pact with UKIP.

"I think it is absolutely wrong (that it can be) always assumed that some kind of deal could be done and people would flood back to us. Governments sometimes have to make some very difficult decisions," he said.

He also said: "I think it's important that if we do have a referendum on our future with Europe it's got to be on the basis of not trying to outsmart UKIP or trying to ensure that we can bring the whole conservative party in one - it should be in the national interest."

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Dee Gallagher


1:47 PM on 16/12/2012

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I disagree that UKIP is a party for the Tories, they are also a party for the working class. Labour's mass immigration has not helped the working class, its just brought an influx of cheap labour which the average brit can't compete with. Immigration has also caused a strain on social housing with over 2 million immigrants needing housed. I read UKIP's stance as if we get out the EU the money we save can be used to help the working class and there will be no need to slash the benefits of the disabled which is what the Tories are doing. We need fair welfare reforms, not reforms that put the jobless onto manditory work schemes with fictional jobs to skewer the unemployment figures. If we had less immigration there would be more work. If we had less immigration there would be more housing. Look after our own first with an immigration cap and get the UK back on it's feet. I also agree all immigrants should speak English and have medical insurance so they are not using the NHS. An open door policy has brought this country to it's knees and if it carry's on i fear what we will leave for our kids.

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fafner


1:43 PM on 16/12/2012

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Now has anybody watched on U Tube "Who the Hell do you think you are" or Epic Rant"Nigel Farage Was Right" Quite amazing, almost like a Churchill during the war.

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Maggie Donohue


1:43 PM on 16/12/2012



This is great news for UKIP. Well done Nigel Farage. You seem to be the only person who actually LISTENS to the British people. Can't wait to vote for this party, come the next elections. Very sad that Labour are in the lead AT THE MOMENT!!!

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Cantabrian


1:40 PM on 16/12/2012



In 100 years historians will wonder how sixty million people, broadly conservative in outlook if not in politics, managed to be governed for thirty years by a small caucus of liberal socialists.
I have lived through it and I don't understand it.











whatyoudoing


1:39 PM on 16/12/2012



DCam and your cons party are in cloud cuckoo land. UKIP is a reality and will tackle issues like a vote on Europe which you have dodged consistently with you dying lib dem cronies. Its time we had someone willing to show real leadership and not worry about trying to be popular to get re elected. The cons have backtracked and vacillated on so many things now how can anyone trust them for another 5 years. UKIP you got my vote cant be worse than labour or the coalition.

.






CitizenBystander


1:38 PM on 16/12/2012



I've listened to Nigel Farage and somehow I keep finding myself in agreement with him.
I'm a disillusioned middle class Tory voter who has defected. I'm only in favour of marriage ceremonies in places of worship between a man and a woman but I'm quite happy with a Civil Partnership for anyone in any other licensed place.

I'm tired of hearing about and being affected by EU doctrine and policies.
As Nigel Farage says, his parents' generation voted for trading relationship with Europe and not a takeover of our lives, laws and way of life.
I was one of those voters, now poised to give my vote to UKIP whenever possible.

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ianston


1:35 PM on 16/12/2012

Anyone who votes for labour must be foreign, anyone who votes for tories must be rich. So what choice do us average BRITISH people have? The biggest issue is on mass immigration, labour supports it for votes, tories support it for cheap laboir and lib dems support it for both. Again what choice do we have? The top three parties are self serving morons, anyone who votes for them is clueless.









mar1958


1:30 PM on 16/12/2012

If UKIP in charge of country 2015 then
I will be voting for them

OUT OF EUROPE IMMEDIATLY

Ukip steals a march on Tories


David Cameron is given a warning of the threat posed by the rise of the
United Kingdom Independence Party as he enters a critical phase in the life of
his government.








UKIP leader Nigel Farage visits
Eastleigh to canvass with candidate Diane James Photo:
GETTY





By Patrick Hennessy, and Robert
Watts

9:00PM GMT 16 Mar 2013




An ICM opinion poll for The Sunday Telegraph shows that a key group of
Right-of-centre voters are much more attracted to Ukip’s policies on
immigration, government spending and same-sex marriage than to the Tories’
stance on the issues.


This same group — made up of those who have yet to decide which of the two
parties to support — also rates Ukip’s Nigel Farage as a better party leader
than the Prime Minister. The group make up one in 10 of all voters and their
support is crucial to Mr Cameron’s chances of electoral success.


The poll comes at the start of Budget week amid fears among Conservative MPs
and activists that Ukip will perform well in May’s local elections, placing Mr
Cameron’s future under further scrutiny.


^{David Cameron warned activists that they
had a "real fight on their hands"}


Speaking at his party’s Spring Forum in London yesterday, the Prime Minister
warned activists that they had a “real fight on their hands” to win power in
2015. His rallying cry was designed to unite his party and silence those
plotting against his leadership.



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However, in a separate development, Sir Peter Tapsell became the first
Conservative MP to state that he would be prepared to give up his safe Commons
seat to let Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, return to Parliament.

Sir Peter, 83, made the frank admission that he was “keeping his seat warm
for Boris” to Mr Cameron personally in remarks overheard by several Tory MPs.


Last night the MP denied being part of any Boris “camp” and said his Louth
and Horncastle constituency in Lincolnshire, where his majority is nearly
14,000, could be too far from London to suit Mr Johnson. However, he said the
Mayor would be an “excellent” leader of the Opposition and “perhaps” a good
prime minister.

Recent weeks have seen a flurry of speculation about rival Tory candidates
positioning themselves to succeed Mr Cameron — most recently Theresa May, the
Home Secretary, who is believed by her colleagues to be “on manoeuvres”.

In an article for The Sunday Telegraph, Andrew Mitchell, the former
international development secretary, issues a barely disguised attack on Mrs May
as he warns MPs to stop plotting.

^{Andrew Mitchell warns MPs to stop
plotting against David Cameron}

“Tea-room talk of challenging David Cameron for the leadership will lead to a
Tory defeat,” writes Mr Mitchell, who resigned from the Cabinet last year over
claims, which he strongly denies, that he called police officers “plebs”.

“All those who fancy a shot at the title, whether currently serving in
Cabinet or not, need to know that their personal ambition risks political
calamity. Your name will go down in history like that of the Malian military,
whose coup precipitated the very defeat they sought to avoid.”

This week George Osborne will unveil the Budget — another key political event
whose run-up has seen Tory MPs demand further cuts in state spending as well as
big tax cuts in an attempt to stimulate growth.

Treasury sources said there would be support for those who wanted to “work
hard and get on” — but they signalled no deviation from the Coalition’s current
plans to reduce the deficit.

In what is expected to be a downbeat Budget statement on Wednesday, Mr
Osborne will resist calls for further tax or spending cuts to invigorate
Britain’s sluggish recovery.

The Chancellor will unveil plans to increase house building and deliver a
£100million boost to the FirstBuy scheme, which gives help to those hoping to
get on to the property ladder.

A further corporation tax cut targeted at small and medium-sized companies is
also expected. Mr Osborne is also looking at cutting stamp duty on share trades
in fast-growing companies listed on the London Alternative Investment Market.


The Department for Business is poised to be one of Wednesday’s few winners,
with at least £1billion over 10 years pledged to businesses across the provinces
under a plan championed by Lord Heseltine, the former Tory Cabinet minister.


Mr Osborne could also delay a 3p fuel duty rise pencilled in for September,
while in a move to help savers squeezed by low interest rates, the Isa allowance
is expected to rise again for the 2014-15 tax year.

There will also be new details on plans to build more roads and other
infrastructure while the Chancellor will also provide more details of a
£1.5billion child care scheme to help parents pay nursery fees. The voucher
scheme will be unveiled by Mr Cameron on Tuesday and is to offer families
assistance worth up to £2,000 a year.

However, documents published alongside the Budget will suggest that the
economic outlook has deteriorated sharply in the past four months and that
Britain is facing the prospect of a period of “stagflation” — with low growth
and rising inflation.

The Office for Budget Responsibility, which produces the economic projections
on which the Government’s tax and spending plans are based, is set to halve its
growth forecast for this year from 1.2 to 0.7 per cent.

The 2014 forecast is also expected to fall from 2 to around 1.5 per cent,
while inflation is to be higher in both years, due to higher than forecast
petrol and energy prices.

One senior government source said: “The central theme is that we are sticking
to the plan. There is no money for tax cuts, no money for big spending pledges.”
The source said that the Chancellor had “no choice” but to resist calls from his
backbenchers to cut capital gains tax, VAT and income tax.

Today’s ICM poll shows Labour six points ahead of the Tories when voters are
asked to predict the result of the next general election. Ed Miliband’s party is
on 36 per cent with the Conservatives on 30 per cent and the Liberal Democrats
on 18 per cent.

It is the support for Ukip’s policy positions among Right-of-centre voters
that will most alarm 10 Downing St, however. A group identified as
Conservative-Ukip “switchers” supports Mr Farage’s party’s position over that
taken by the Tories on immigration by 62 per cent to 34 per cent, on state
spending by 64 per cent to 28 and on same-sex marriage by 51 per cent to 39.


On leadership, among all voters the Prime Minister is seen as a better party
leader than Mr Farage by 33 per cent to 29 per cent but the Ukip leader is the
favourite — by 37 per cent to 32 per cent — among the Conservative-Ukip
“switchers”.

This is just one of the reasons why the Politicians as a whole, the Coalition and the Conservatives in particular are showing such poor support...

This blatant sneering arrogance marks the huge divide that still exists between the corrupt elected 'Honourable Members' and the electorate.