The rise of UKIP and its impact on UK politics
The growth of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) throughout the 2010’s signified that a new era of British politics was underway. Despite only ever winning one Westminster seat, Brexit is largely attributed to the party and their unprecedented success.
This has led many to wonder; how did UKIP go from experiencing minimal success in the 1990’s and 2000’s, to becoming arguably the most influential party in British politics in the 2010’s?
The Beginning
UKIP was founded in 1993 as a result of opposition to the Maastricht Treaty. The party experienced their first breakthrough at the 1999 election to the European Parliament, securing three seats- including a victory for Nigel Farage.
This success was heightened in 2004 when UKIP candidates won 12 seats in the European Parliament and displayed a respectable showing in local elections that year (Ray,2024). The party was still unable to win a seat in Westminster during this time, however, thwarted by the ‘first-past-the-post’ system, rather than the proportional representation in European Parliament elections.
Growth under Farage’s Leadership
Initially, UKIP was founded as a single-issue, Eurosceptic party. However, following the election of Farage as party leader in 2006, the party utilised growing anti-immigration sentiment in the UK and successfully fused its core policy on Europe and the more salient issue of immigration (Tournier-Sol,2021).
Additionally, the Conservative Party’s move towards more centrist policies under David Cameron left much of the working-class electorate feeling marginalized and alienated. This public dissatisfaction was amplified with the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government between 2010-2015 (McManus,2021). Therefore, UKIP was able to successfully adopt a right-wing populist narrative, portraying themselves as a ‘“common sense” party that champions the interests of ordinary people” (Clarke et al,2016), in order to attract voters who were disillusioned with the ‘big three’ and did not align with the emerging centrist consensus.
This strategy helped the party see growing support in local elections in the early 2010’s and this success culminated in the 2014 European Parliament Election where UKIP won the election with 24 seats and a 27% vote share. This result was a watershed moment in British politics as it was first time in modern history that neither Labour nor Conservatives had won a British national election.
Interestingly, despite UKIP’s historic success in the 2014 European Parliament election, the party continually failed at making significant gains in Westminster. This may have limited UKIP’s ability to directly influence the legislative agenda, but by embracing extreme positions on key issues, UKIP were able to distinguish themselves from centrist parties and influence legislative outcomes in a manner that far exceeded its representation in Parliament (McManus,2021).
UKIP and Brexit
UKIP continued to capitalise on the Eurozone and migrant crises to pressurise the Government into holding a public vote on EU membership. The risk of voter defection to UKIP was much higher for the Conservative Party than any other, and the Conservatives feared that the increasing support for UKIP could cost them an overall majority at the 2015 General election.
The Conservatives were desperate to curb the growing electoral threat from UKIP, and as a result, Cameron pledged to hold a referendum on EU membership if the Conservatives won the 2015 General Election. This pledge was an obvious attempt to “shoot the UKIP fox”, especially given that Cameron himself was opposed to Brexit and campaigned for the UK to remain in the EU (McManus,2021).
When the UK voted to leave the EU on 23rd June 2016, this was the ultimate win for the party, with Farage describing the event as Britain’s ‘independence day’.
The Aftermath
Following the historic Brexit vote, and the resignation of Farage as leader, UKIP have struggled to find their feet and, after the 2023 local elections, they do not have any representatives at any level.
Nonetheless, despite UKIP’s dwindling relevance, their ideas and policies continued to influence British politics. The Conservative Party adopted right-wing populist rhetoric post-referendum to recuperate the dissatisfied voters they had lost to UKIP, becoming increasingly anti-immigration, Eurosceptic, and electing Boris Johnson as party leader, who was notoriously supportive of a hard Brexit.
Arguably, the influence and impact of UKIP is still alive in the present day as this right-wing radicalisation of the Conservative Party is still in force, with current leader Rishi Sunak taking a hard-line stance on immigration and transgender rights.
Therefore, love them or hate them, the impact of UKIP cannot be understated. Although the UK was initially perceived as an exemption to the right-wing populism emerging across Europe, the unprecedented success of UKIP from 2010 to 2016 exemplifies that right-wing populism has materialised in the UK (Tournier-Sol,2021).
Not only were they a large reason for Brexit, but the Conservative Party’s co-opting of UKIP’s ideas and their move towards the right following Cameron’s more centrist government, further emphasises UKIP’s influence, and demonstrates that they have played a pivotal role in British politics and policies over the last 15 years.
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This blog post touches on many important and interesting points about UKIP, and how they are an influential party not to be forgotten about. Despite the fact that in the 2023 General Election they have no standing representatives, they still manage to have their place in the mainstream British media. UKIP is largely associated with their former leader, Nigel Farage, who is extremely popular with many centre-right leaning voters. Whilst Farage is not directly involved in the party’s politics any longer, it is his influence which arguably keeps the party prominent at many points. His involvement with the tv show ‘I’m a celebrity get me out of here’ also increased the parties visibility inadvertently. UKIP is the party most associated with the Brexit campaign and were pivotal in sharing much of information which would eventually lead people to vote ‘leave’. With the public’s growing concerns over immigration and refugees in the UK, it will be interesting to see whether the party claims an increased number of votes from people looking toward a more right-leaning party, a trend which has already been seen in many various European countries over the past 5 years. Overall, this blog post presents an interesting and well thought-out overview of the party’s history.
Through the employment of images the blog post immediately engages the reader. The overall layout and structure of the post provides an easy read. I particularly liked the use of a rhetorical question, “This has led many to wonder; how did UKIP go from experiencing minimal success in the 1990’s and 2000’s, to becoming arguably the most influential party in British politics in the 2010’s?”, in the introductory paragraph as it evidently opens up the blog and establishes the topic being discussed. The author has successfully outlined the UKIP party’s history, from its success under Nigel Farage to the aftermath of the Brexit vote. Additionally, the author’s use of multiple sources have helped to craft a successful and engaging blog. The blog has expanded my view on a party that is otherwise overshadowed by the Conservative Party and the Labour party.
This blog provides an easy-to-read guide on UKIP, how they were set up, why they grew under Farage’s leadership and how they impacted Brexit. The chronical read of how UKIP grew influence in the 2010’s really builds a picture to how they were able to essentially create Brexit by capitalising on the Eurozone and migrant crisis, which pressurised the government into holding a public vote on the EU membership. It is intriguing to study the rise of UKIP and its consequential impact. Some may view it as a pivotal moment in the UK political landscape, whereas others may see it as a reflection of deeper societal sentiments. UKIP and their success during Brexit underscored a growing disillusionment with traditional political parties and in particular their handling of key issues like immigration and sovereignty. Perhaps this blog could of discussed more of the appeal of UKIP, how and why this party gained so much appeal and how this was linked to the broader socio-political context.
The author provides a thorough explanation of UKIP’s history and their influence on modern British politics. In particular, the explanation of UKIP’s influence on the Conservative party is worthy of further examination. A common explanation is that the phenomenon of more moderate parties adopting the policies of their more extreme counterpart is not unique to UKIP and the Conservative party. However, the relationship between the two parties may be more complex than this assessment. The rhetoric used by the Conservatives, dating back to the 1990s, helped to create a political ecosystem in which UKIP was able to find success. Thus, rather than UKIP influencing the Conservatives, the two parties have a mutual influence on each other.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0263395718754718
This blog post was captivating as the role of UKIP on the other political parties is a topic I feel isn’t discussed enough. The in-depth analysis of UKIP as a party and how its populist approach has shifted the political system to the right, with extreme anti-immigration and forms of transphobia becoming increasingly influential, you only have to look at the Rwanda policy to see the extent of their impact on current legislation. As mentioned their astonishing wins at the European Parliament and their vote share in previous elections highlight how they cannot be forgotten about. I would be interested to know the writers’ thoughts on The Reform Party.