UKIP Uncovered

UKIP Uncovered
What motivates the leaders of the United Kingdom Independence Party?

Monday, March 22, 2004

'Considerations a Competent UKIP Leadership should now be Debating'

Barbara Booker has been thinking beyond the European Parliamentary elections
and put these important and interesting questions to Damian Hockney, UKIP's leading candidate in the London Assembly Elections:-

Quote

I have asked repeatedly what stipulations the NEC has laid down regarding European parties or EP groups their MEPs might wish to join in the next parliament, and last September Mark Croucher replied that groups would be decided by negotiation after the election, until when speculation was pointless. Yet the EU Observer reported on 8 March that "frantic dealing is going on behind the scenes to plot the political landscape for the next five-year term", and the emergence of at least three new pan-European parties has already been announced - a left wing/Communist party, a united European Green Party, and a European Free Alliance Party. There is also talk of a new 'centrist federalist group' or party, gathering around MEPs who may defect from the EPP.

It is simply not believable that the UKIP MEPs are sitting out this frantic dealing, leaving whatever emerges after June to be settled by others before the election. For instance, might the European Free Alliance (EFA) be a possible party for UKIP to join? It is apparently "an association of regionalist and democratic nationalist parties" and already includes Scottish National Party and Welsh MEPs. Has UKIP held discussions with the EFA? I would guess also that negotiations must be taking place with a view to forming a pan-European party from those opposed to EU enlargement and immigration, such as Vlaams Blok and the Austrian Freedom Party. These are also UKIP policies. Have the MEPs been taking part in such discussions, and which of the three is conducting negotiations on UKIP's behalf?

I ask Damian these questions because he may become part of whatever is being agreed now, and should therefore be aware of what is decided. If UKIP fails to return any MEPs (and with highish profile independents like Martin Bell and Neil Herron splitting the protest vote this is possible) but Damian wins a seat on the GLA, he could turn out to be crucial to the formation of a new European party. A so far unremarked aspect of the regulations for the funding of pan- European parties is that the party (which can be formed from an alliance of small parties such as UKIP) has to be represented in a quarter of member states 'either' by having gained 3% of votes in the last EP elections, 'or' by having Members in the European parliament, or national parliaments, or regional parliaments, or 'regional assemblies'. The 'quarter of member states' requirement might mean the new party was reliant on a UK element for its formation, which would make Damian, or any other UKIP member of an elected RA (and it is worth noting that UKIP's policy is to campaign for immediate referendums on RAs across the UK), a pretty important guy! This would only apply if UKIP plans to join a pan-European party. EP groups consist of MEPs only, and would not include RA members. Does Damian know how negotiations are progressing?

A further question concerns the BNP, which shares UKIP's stance in a number of important policy areas. Both want to keep the pound and withdraw from the EU; both are opposed to EU enlargement; both take a tough line on immigration and asylum. Therefore, if both are successful in the Euro elections their MEPs are likely to be confronted with similar problems, and similar opportunities, in seeking alliances with MEPs from other member states. Doors which are slammed or flung wide to UKIP, may be similarly shut or opened to the BNP. Would UKIP members object to their MEPs sitting in the same EP group as BNP MEPs, or fighting future European and possibly regional elections as part of the same European party, and on the same common manifesto as the BNP?

These are important questions for anyone who sees UKIP as our only hope of getting out of the EU. Most members seem to believe that progress towards that depends chiefly on the degree of success in the Euros, and are not concerned with what happens in Brussels once their MEPs are elected. This is a mistake. The EU's institutions are evolving as it heads towards a single Eurostate, and the pieces are being put in place now for a structure which may not be fully visible for another one or two parliamentary terms. UKIP's internal difficulties should never be allowed to obscure what members' financial and other contributions are actually building. It may have nothing whatever to do with getting out of the EU.

Unquote

posted by Martin |6:24 PM