Ukip leader Nigel Farage sees a decent poll boost which suggests the Ukip leader’s ambition to enter Westminster could be realised in South Thanet, his chances are boosted by David Cameron’s immigration target being blown as nearly 298,000 people came into Britain last year

Dear All

One of the people hoping to storm the gates of Westminster and become an MP is Nigel Farage.

Getting Ukip MPs into Westminster is a key part of securing their desire that a referendum of the continued membership of the EU takes place.

Although all the main parties are signed up to the European project, ordinary people have become more disenchanted as their concerns have been ignored on issue such as immigration.

As a member of the EU, we have little control of our own borders to stop people from other EU countries coming here. Although the Conservative Party has talked tough, the reality is the EU needs reforms such as an internal EU immigration policy.

Ukip’s star is on the rise, and on of Ukip’s pre-election conference, it appears to be good news for Nigel Farage with a poll suggesting his wish to be a member of the British Parliament is likely.

Nothing is guaranteed, the polling day is still the best source of information on who is in and who is out.

Research by Survation says Farage’s support in South Thanet is a very decent 39 per cent, ahead of Labour rival WIll Scobie. Scobie sits on 28 per cent and Tory Craig Mackinlay on 27 per cent.

This is good news as for some time the Ukip brand had appear to have slipped by inactivity, a few bad stories of members acting in or seen to be acting in a racist manner. Ukip needs to tighten up what its members are saying on a range of subjects, this is due to them not really understanding politics and how it operates.

Other good news out of bad news is net migration figures released yesterday that showed nearly 298,000 people came into Britain last year.

That figure is almost treble David Cameron’s target.

An internal EU immigration policy, I floated that idea to someone in the Conservative Party, they didn’t get back to me.

Their loss!

At present there is a goldmine of topics to take Westminster to task on, including the EU and the NHS, Ukip suffered on the NHS because of what previous had been said about it going private, that is such a complete none starter to be political suicide for anyone mental enough to go down that road.

At present Farage is in the US to raise his profile aborad as he addresses the right-wing Conservative Political Action Conference.

The Tea Party movement is there, along with their star Sarah Palin, a previous Vice President hopeful.

But what should focus Nigel Farage’s mind is  South Thanet, to win it he needs to work hard and work non-stop right up to the day of the ballot.

In November 2013 Labour had the lead by 35 per cent to Ukip’s 30 per cent. So, things here are fluid, and Farage needs to try and lock down the vote by getting people to think as he does.

The Conservatives have a problem in that their current MP Laura Sandys, is stepping down in May which means the newcomer has to start from scratch and build up a profile and following.

Such is the hotbed atmosphere that Ukip has reportedly requested police bodyguards for Mr Farage. Left wing protestors have a habit of turning up to brand Ukip as racist which the party is not.

Every Party has those who have extreme views in their ranks, Ukip is no different but when these people get identified Ukip is more proactive in removing them.

Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless both former Tory MPs will speak at the Conference having switched to Ukip, at the election, I would expect them to hold their seats in Parliament as they obviously have a personal following, particular Douglas Carswell who is a popular MP and hard working.

So can Ukip win a good number seats, that is still open to question, we are still a long way off from polling day, a lot can happen, in 2010 Gordon Brown effective saw his Premiership disappear over the Gillian Duffy incident.

Nigel Farage entering Westminster would be good for democracy because it would send the signal that the main parties need, for too long have they ignored people, we could be seeing the start of the decline of both Labour and Conservative Parties in the UK.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University