It may have been a shock result nationally, but here in Lincoln we knew our chances of winning this seat were slim. However, with our meagre resources, my small band of political commandos set about their task to disrupt and influence the Lincoln political scene, both at Parliamentary and local level. This we achieved in large measure coming third in the general election — a very good outcome, also retaining our deposit and increasing our vote share by 10% on our 2010 result.
As a party, I think we gave a good account of ourselves in every constituency in the county greatly increasing our vote take and building a strong base for the next election. Our success across the county in winning seats at a local level on East Lindsey and Boston borough council shows that we can kick the front door of local government down. The City of Lincoln Council’s time will come.
There is no doubt that we are now the third party in Lincoln politics.
In the local elections, in both the City and in North Kesteven district councils this year, we greatly increased our vote numbers across all the wards we stood in: Bracebridge Heath and Waddington East, with a full compliment of three candidates who came in a credible third. We gained four parish council seats, two on the Bracebridge Heath parish and two on the Waddington East parish. It was the first time we have fielded candidates in the parish elections in North Kesteven.
We will continue putting pressure on the old parties at all levels of local government, not letting them have an easy ride. I know that both old parties worked harder than ever to secure their wins in both national and local this year, and we are in no small part the cause of much sweat and anguish in their ranks. The only thing that protected them in the end nationally was the fear of the jocks being in bed with Labour and ruling the roost.
We of course fell foul of our old friend, the absurd electoral system which would make even Robert Mugabe blush — yes the ‘first past the post’ voting system, the last bulwark of the scoundrel. We have to stop this lurch from red to blue, we deserve a more representative Parliament, that reflects the votes cast by the electorate.
We will only have a truly engaging parliamentary government when this happens. The voters will re-engage when they see all their votes hitting the target and can see their views represented by the MPs sitting on the green benches. Until then, turnouts will stagnate and a growing feeling of disenchantment will embrace the voting and non–voting populace.
All we can do is bash on regardless until the public wise up to the fact they are being played like fiddles every time. Continuing to do the same thing again and again and expecting a different outcome is the true sign of insanity.
Looking forward, we cannot give up the battle. It is too important and to this end, we will have a large contingent of candidates in next year’s City of Lincoln Council elections, which will see all thirty three councillors elected, because of boundary changes to two wards and a change of name to one ward, Bracebridge will become Witham.
I am sure we will have our breakthrough next year and see the diversity that this council so desperately requires, with a splash of purple.
I believe that after a well deserved rest that Nigel Farage will stand for re-election as our leader, but if he chooses not to, we have some very good contenders in the wings, like Steven Wolfe MEP or Suzanne Evans our Deputy Chairman and author of the 2015 manifesto.
So all in all UKIP has a bright future and we will continue to harass our political adversaries at every turn, until we get an Independent Britain.
Nick Smith is the UKIP candidate for Lincoln MP and the Chairman of UKIP Lincoln Constituency Association.
