Europhobia: 05/23/2004

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

From the Guardian again, an opinion piece by the amusingly-named Jeffery Titford, UKIP MEP: "I am picking up a strong sense that voters have not only had enough of seeing their country being pushed around by Brussels but, interestingly, they are just as disillusioned with the big three parties and want to use this election to raise a metaphorical two fingers at them."

"Dissillusioned with the big three parties" actually has a lot of validity to it. The first part may or may not. Until we have a referendum, it's all guesswork. No matter how many polls from the notoriously unreliable You Gov you commission, until everyone in the country has a chance to express their views once and for all, no one has a clue.

Some things are for sure: lots of people are pissed off with Labour, and with Tony Blair in particular; many people still don't think the Tories should be allowed back into power; and a sizable chunk of the population won't vote for the Lib Dems because they don't think they've got a chance of getting in.

Sadly, in this country people no longer vote as they should: for the individual candidate that best represents their views and desires. Instead, we vote for parties. I wouldn't be surprised if a sizable number of Labour councillors lose their seats in the upcoming local elections not because they have done anything wrong, but because the country has fallen out of love with Mr Blair.

No updates in a while due to work and life getting in the way. I've missed a lot of developments. Ho-hum.

Discovered the Guardian has a Euroblog today. Thought I'd check it out. It's updated somewhat more regularly than this one, but then again, someone's PAID to do it. Lucky bastard.

Anyway, today's entry is from Tory MEP Roger Helmer. The man seems to be a bit of an idiot. I quote:

"The key difference, and the reason why Eurosceptic voters should vote Conservative, is that UKIP is a fringe, single-issue party with no hope at all of ever forming a government. UKIP can't deliver! Only a major national party like the Conservatives, with an excellent prospect of forming the next government, can actually deliver a radical change in Britain's relationship with the EU."

A fringe party with no hope at all of ever forming a government. I seem to recall similar things were being said about the Tories a few years back. The UKIP are crypto-fascist scum, and are indeed a single-issue party. Sadly, that does not mean they would be incapable of achieving something in Europe. They could balls the whole thing up royally, and the scary thing is they'd be doing it out of a genuine desire to do what they think is best for this country. It's true that they aren't going to be able to form a government, but if enough people put in their protest votes for them, a message might be sent. At least it's mildly better than the BNP, but I really do despise the UKIP.

To be fair, Helmer makes some valid points on the UKIP's record with the limited power it has managed to attain. Here, as in their inherent racism and xenophobia, they are much akin to the BNP, whose few councillors have consistently failed to achieve anything for the communities they claim to represent.

UKIP MEPs "have a well-below-average voting record... often have no idea how to vote... rarely show up in committees, where key decisions affecting British interests are debated and effected." All true.

The trouble with the Eurosceptic parties is that when they gain any kind of power within Europe, doing anything with that power goes against all their instincts. They don't believe MEPs should have any say in what happens in the UK, so when they become MEPs they frequently fail to fulfill their duties to the people who elected them and actually do any work.