‘Backwards vision’ Wales can’t afford

UKIP’s move into Welsh politics was facilitated by fear-mongering and empty promises “in areas that feel abandoned”, according to the campaign group, Hope Not Hate.

The right wing party made unprecedented gains during last week’s regional elections, winning seven Welsh assembly seats – predominantly in areas that are struggling as a result of Tory cuts from Westminster.

 
Despite its successes cracks are already beginning to appear, with UKIP leader Nigel Farage and newly appointed assembly member (AM) Neil Hamilton trading public insults over Hamilton’s appointment as UKIP’s Senedd chief.

 
The news did not surprise Hope Not Hate’s regional organiser in Wales, Tom Godwin.

 
Godwin said, “I would only expect that these people would continue their fine traditional of saying awful things and falling apart on the job.”

 
Hope Not Hate has warned for some time that UKIP stood to make ground in Wales through the use of divisive and disreputable politics.

 
“They are essentially a right wing populist party. My experience of campaigning against them and seeing their leaflets in different areas was there was no consistency. They went for whatever they thought would work in whatever area,” Godwin explained.

 
“If they’re in an affluent area they’d focus on issues there, in other areas they’d say ‘we’re the only party that will defend the NHS’, despite their leaders having said publicly and privately that they want to move to a privatised system.”

 
According to Godwin, UKIP, following an established pattern, apparently focused on gaining traction within two specific demographics in Wales, which in its view are susceptible to narratives that scapegoat immigrants.

These were Labour voters in impoverished areas concerned about their economic security and pressured public services, and Tory voters from more affluent areas worried about national identity and integration.
It is the former group that has made the most difference in Wales, believes Godwin.
 

 

Targeting areas

“We saw during the general election last year that UKIP was really targeting areas where there used to be mining or steel making. They went to areas that have had decades of job insecurity and real disenfranchisement, where people feel abandoned and believe politics doesn’t work for them anymore,” Godwin said.

 
“In those places there has been very little immigration and then an increase in the last decade. Combined with job insecurity and low wages they are ripe grounds for UKIP to come in and blame all the ills of society on immigrants.”

 
Another reason behind the party’s progress is UKIP’s use of the upcoming EU referendum to mislead the electorate, Godwin pointed out.

 
He said, “In most of their campaign literature there was a conflation between the Welsh Assembly elections and the EU referendum. Because there’s been a lot of coverage of the referendum and less on the regional elections, I believe there was some confusion between the two – and UKIP took advantage of that.”

 
In terms of the individuals elected to office – including disgraced former Tory MP Neil Hamilton, who lost his seat in 1997 after being implicated in a ‘cash for questions scandal’ – Godwin has a similarly low opinion.

 
He added, “Once the referendum is over I’ll be very interested to see what happens, because the EU is the only reason UKIP has to exist.”

 
Unite Wales secretary, Andy Richards, expressed his disappointment at UKIP’s gains and called on progressive parties in the Welsh Assembly to cooperate in order to defeat its “divisive and dangerous ideology.”
 

“It’s important to recognise that there is a new momentum in Wales – in the performance of our schools, in the number of new jobs being created and in the performance of our NHS.

“Wales is a country on the up. Wales and the last Welsh Labour government achieved this and so much more in the face of Tory cuts from Westminster,” said Richards.

 
“We know that our communities and the most vulnerable are under threat from Tory austerity and cuts to vital support, but having UKIP Assembly Members will not help us stop that. They offer a vision that will take the lives of working people backwards, and that is something Wales cannot afford.”