Ukip supporters I met weren't racist – they felt disenfranchised and frustrated
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Version 0 of 1. Having spent months campaigning in the local elections for a council seat in the London's Southwark borough, I've spoken to many people who, despite my efforts, voted for Ukip. Ukip may have prevented my Conservative colleagues and me from winning seats last week – the margin of my defeat was narrower than the Ukip vote – but watching the count there were a surprising number of votes split between Ukip and the Liberal Democrats, and Ukip and Labour. I am sure the voters I spoke to were not racist or frustrated by political correctness. They were not intolerant of all migrants, or desperate to criticise Romanians. Call it electionitis, call it a desire to use ammunition against an opposing political party – but I rushed to call out every example of bigotry that hit the national headlines. I couldn't have been more eager to criticise Nigel Farage for racism, and in doing so I made a fundamental mistake. Until we understand Ukip voters and until we respect the motivations behind their choices, they will continue to rise in the polls. People do not vote for Ukip in such numbers because they are racist. Lord Ashcroft's polling shows that 24% of the people who voted Ukip on 22 May would prefer Ed Miliband to David Cameron as prime minister. Eight per cent had previously voted Liberal Democrat. This isn't a party fuelled by racism but one that taps into the feeling of disenfranchisement among the less well-off. Ukip's tone resonates with those who might have been traditional working-class Labour and Conservative voters. Support for Ukip on the doorstep was voiced as support for a party that understood the concerns of ordinary voters, and the three main parties need to learn this lesson. Southwark used to be a Lib Dem stronghold. I was astonished by the numbers of doors opened by people who previously voted Lib Dem but were going to vote Ukip. When asked to unpack that, the ones who generously gave their time explained that their concern was about immigration. They said that the area had been filled with migrants pushing up the cost of housing and preventing their children from finding homes. Southwark's popularity as a place to live, because it's near the City, has brought in large numbers of young professionals – many of whom I spoke to, who had come to work in London from abroad. More established working-class residents don't feel squeezed out culturally by immigration but economically. There is an argument raging about why London doesn't reflect the national polls when it comes to Ukip support. The party didn't do anywhere near as well in the capital as it did elsewhere. Some claim it shows how ethnically diverse London is, and how tolerant. I don't believe that London is any more tolerant than any other parts of Britain. What it has is wealth, and a property market that has pushed out working-class residents. Thus in London Ukip has both smaller networks of activists and fewer people likely to vote for it. When the main parties are able to unveil policies that assure the least well-off that they are on their side, when the housing market doesn't make people scared that their children will never own homes, then support for Ukip will collapse. When Ukip supporters cite immigration, it's not because they don't like the faces of people moving in down the road, it's because they fear the road is now unaffordable for their children to live on. I made the mistake of calling Ukip racist on the basis of the party's incompetence at selecting good candidates, but demonising its supporters means alienating them further from the political establishment. We would do better to get behind them and bring them back to parties that don't just reflect their concerns, but have the competence to do something about them. |