I was wandering down Green Street, E13, (outside West Ham’s stadium) when someone came up to me and said: “You’re Iain Dale, aren’t you?” After telling me he was an LBC listener he then told me he was a Labour voter, but liked my show. He then proceeded to tell me why, as a habitual Labour voter he was now supporting UKIP. There was nothing unusual in his reasoning, but he ended up by saying…
I’m UKIP Labour. There’s a lot of us about.
It was the first time I had heard anyone describe themselves as ‘UKIP Labour’ before, but I think it is, and will be, a growing phenomenon. Thursday demonstrated that UKIP are attracting votes from not only Labour but also the Liberal Democrats. In West Sussex the LibDems lost eight seats to UKIP. Believe it or not there are quite a few Eurosceptic LibDems. I remember that from my time in North Norfolk.
Ed Miliband has reasons to be rather disappointed by Labour’s performance on Thursday. UKIP cost Labour dozens of gains, especially in the south. Miliband will now need to work out a strategy to prevent that happening in a general election. Expect Labour to support an In-Out referendum and to toughen up its immigration rhetoric.
