Making Plans For Nigel Explaining the success of the United Kingdom Independence Party in the 2013 local council elections, with a focus on Boston, Lincolnshire.

Abstract

Eurosceptic parties across Europe are on the rise, and since the Eurocrisis their calls for reform of or even exit from the European Union have gained more prominence. One such party, The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), shocked political commentators in 2013 with their huge rise in the opinion polls and successes in local council elections across England. The aim of this thesis is to explain the success of UKIP in those elections, using Boston in Lincolnshire as a specific case study. This case study involves investigating the research problem from a number of different perspectives, analysing political factors, demographics and media. It then seeks to analyse whether pre-existing hypotheses to explain the success of UKIP and similar parties can be applied to the specific case of Boston. The findings of the study are that the low turnout at the elections, especially of Conservative voters, gave UKIP the opportunity to win. This turnout can be explained by a number of factors, including a lack of political competition from other mainstream parties. The visit to the town of Nigel Farage also contributed to success of UKIP in the area, although this appeared to have still relied on the low turnout of Conservative voters. Finally, the large amount of low skilled immigration in the area may have also contributed to the spread of support for UKIP, although it is possible that this could also be down to deprivation levels in the area, as this appears to be apparent in the same geographic areas.