UKIP loses all remaining seats in local elections

Is this the end of the UK Independence Party?

Eight years ago, UKIP was rising high. In the 1014 elections, UKIP won 24 seats and 27 per cent of the popular vote making it the first time ever that a party other than Labour or Conservative had won a UK national election for 100 years.

The result gave UKIP the opportunity to push forward their plans for a vote on the UK’s membership of the European Union and strengthen their campaign for leaving.

But fast forward to 2023, and UKIP’s popularity has waned to the point that in last week’s local elections, UKIP lost all its remaining district and county councillors. There were 500 of them in 2016 and now there are none.

Tim Bale, a professor of politics and author of The Conservative Party after Brexit said: “It’s no exaggeration to talk about a wipeout.”

Ben Walker, the party’s chairman said despite the losses UKIP still has around thirty parish councillors, with himself included. He said: “It certainly wasn’t a disaster based on what we thought we’d get from these elections.”

The BBC said in total UKIP lost 25 seats, which were last up for election in 2019, but since then UKIP councillors have either quit or defected to other parties.

Professor Bale said, “Although UKIP struck a chord with many voters who were hostile to the EU and didn’t believe the Conservative government was doing enough to limit immigration, the party was ultimately a vehicle for the political ambitions of one man – Nigel Farage.”

“Once he abandoned them, they were always likely to fade away and die.”