Tuesday, January 20, 2015
UKIP hit a policy vacuum
One of the worst jobs in politics has to writing the UKIP manifesto. After all, no sooner do you get the document signed off than the party leader is disowning it, whilst other activists and candidates go off and make up their own policies.
It is little wonder that The Times reports today that the party has sacked its policy chief for failing to deliver the document on time. The paper understands that Ukip had set the beginning of January as the deadline to agree policies before sending off the manifesto to be checked and costed by an independent think-tank but a significant part of the document is still to be written:
A senior Ukip insider said: “There was growing disquiet that none of us had seen hide nor hair on the policy front. It was especially annoying for candidates, who are banned from making any specific pledges before the manifesto is published.
“They don’t know what to tell voters on the doorstep.”
I suppose they can always fall back on the 2010 manifesto with its pledges to introduce compulsory uniforms for taxi drivers, making the London Underground’s Circle Line circular again and restricting the number of foreign players in football teams.
Update: Right on cue Nigel Farage contradicts both himself and his party by renewing his call for the effective privatisation of the NHS
It is little wonder that The Times reports today that the party has sacked its policy chief for failing to deliver the document on time. The paper understands that Ukip had set the beginning of January as the deadline to agree policies before sending off the manifesto to be checked and costed by an independent think-tank but a significant part of the document is still to be written:
A senior Ukip insider said: “There was growing disquiet that none of us had seen hide nor hair on the policy front. It was especially annoying for candidates, who are banned from making any specific pledges before the manifesto is published.
“They don’t know what to tell voters on the doorstep.”
I suppose they can always fall back on the 2010 manifesto with its pledges to introduce compulsory uniforms for taxi drivers, making the London Underground’s Circle Line circular again and restricting the number of foreign players in football teams.
Update: Right on cue Nigel Farage contradicts both himself and his party by renewing his call for the effective privatisation of the NHS
