If UKIP are so terrible, why did they win so much?

[balloondoggy]

I didn't vote UKIP - I voted for my local Christians. However, if I were to purely read the comments on Mumsnet and the comments on Facebook re UKIP, I would have thought they would come last; yet they didn't. Why? Are there so many of us on here that are so different from (clearly) the majority?

I just hope that everyone who didn't vote or spoiled their ballot paper, or voted to "teach the other parties a lesson" are now happy with their actions.

A lot of people didn't vote at all

Lots of people dont vote at all at all elections.

The voting turn out where I live was only 41%.

Interesting to see what happens in September when Scotland goes to vote as less than 10% voted for them in Scotland with SNP and Labour being voted for by far more.

I'm just hoping a few more stories like this will emerge to discredit ukip

I think those who voted UKIP who come on Mumsnet dont announce their voting choice on here!

This^

No Armani, that guy got in representing Yorkshire and Humber, what are people thinking????

Groovee Salmond's face yesterday was a picture. The Tories, Labour and UKIP were all up in Scotland. The SNP won quite easily but were marginally down on 2009. But crucially, UKIP won a MEP. To be honest I don't think yesterday's elections will have much impact on the referendum campaign beyond denying the SNP a minor talking point about UKIP.

Across Europe there has been a move from the moderate Eurosceptic parties to the more extreme anti-EU parties - to the extent that there is now a neo-Nazi MEP in Germany for the first time, Golden Dawn in Greece now has MEPs, and Front National has topped the poll in France. However, the pro-European integrationalists have largely retained their position which actually means it will be that much more difficult to reform the EU to better reflect the views of the populations of Europe. The move to the extremists is still largely a protest vote because it is the Commission not the Parliament that has the real power. What will be really scary is if this starts translating into seats in national parliaments.

In the UK we have seen UKIP taking seats from all three major parties in the European elections, which is not really a surprise. The irony is that if they do actually have a breakthrough in Westminster and gain a handful of MPs next year they will make it less not more likely that there will be the in/out referendum that they want. Their Westminster seats are more likely to come from Conservative losses, making it more likely there will be a Labour or Labour-led coalition government, and the Conservatives are the only party so far promising a referendum (slated for 2017).

Re keeping it quiet, our village is lined with purple billboards

What Keeping up anon and OhYouBadKitten said.

People have heard the charismatic Nigel Farage publicise some very popular thoughts about the EU having too much power to impose laws which a lot of people believe should be decided by our own Parliament, and people have thought 'Yes, he's right' and put the cross there, without knowing anything about the rest of the party or the candidates or their manifesto.

Most of the threads on here which have discussed UKIP, have ridiculed anybody who was going to vote UKIP so it would have taken a very committed, and brave poster to come on and say they were going to - it's hardly been a calm and reasoned debate - just a chance to belittle and ridicule people.

I think people voted ukip in hope it might give the other parties a kick up the arse for next year because at the moment little faith in any of them. I found it really hard to vote its was like which bad choice do I make! So voted green for 1st time.

One of the other parties candidates (I think a LibDem) was interviewed about their losses on the BBC. He was wearing a purple tie. Oh dear.

Very few people would know their actual policies. They were so disillusioned that they just wanted someone else.

People think Farage is charismatic? I give up

ChillieJeanie UKIP seemed to take more voters from Labour than from the Tories yesterday, so I'm not sure about your analysis. The Tories were about 4% down; we can safely assume most of that went to UKIP. Most disgruntled Lib Dems will have gone to Labour. That means the rest of UKIP's rise would have come from ex-Labour, ex-BNP and ex-nonvoters.

I want out of Europe so might vote UKIP in the General election if Labour dont make some big announcements over the next 12 months.

It will be the first time i havent voted Labour.

Unfortunately I think people do blame immigrants for the economy. Rather than seeing the wider picture they think they are losing jobs to them.

That and the protest vote. I voted Labour but I don't think Milliband will be a very good prime minister - they are just the best of a bad lot.

I voted UKIP. My vote was to make Cameron tack to the right; he is essentially a 'wet'. He isn't tough enough on non-skilled immigration

I hope you find enough English vegetables not harvested by immigrants in your local supermarket, longfingernails

Gato, please read their other policies before you vote in the GE I really can't see how anyone could go from labour to UKIP.

These results will make a difference if it brings a realisation that the fashion has changed and it's OK to be on the right as you're clearly not alone in leaning that way.

This is my biggest fear - that the success of UKIP in these elections will "legitimise" support for extreme right parties in the future. I don't think it's long before we see a UKIP MP in Westminster. Slippery slope... :(

My parents voted UKIP to 'make a point to Cameron'. Both are educated professionals, couldn't cite an actual non-immigration policy, and the fact that mum justified it by adding, 'When you think of what your grandfather fought for in the war...' without any hint of irony makes me really depressed.

She doesn't think it's a proper election so it doesn't really matter.

yawn and on and on it goes .

dorathedestroyer Your parents are doing exactly the right thing. Cameron will be forced to listen to them by weight of numbers. Who cares what UKIP's other policies are? They aren't going to be in power.

I'm surprised people are so sure of the fact voting for UKIP is just a protest vote and will be voting differently in the General Election. I'm just not sure that's the case.

I think people are looking for change. I think there will be a good chance Scotland will vote for independence, and I think there is a mood within the general public in the rest of the UK that they want something different from the same old, same old.

Unless something drastically happens to put either Labour or the Tories back in favour, I have an uneasy feeling the election results next year may be a shock.

I have no facts or figures to base it on, but there seems a huge air of discontent over the country whichever paper you read, or TV station you watch.

Labour should have done better in these elections. The Conservatives narrowly came third. LibDems failed. On top of that, Farage is charismatic.

Who the hell knows what's going to happen. It's unpredictable.

Bowlersarm Westminster elections are FPTP. Makes it much harder for UKIP. They may well get 4 or 5 MPs but not more. It took the Lib Dems several decades to get to 50-odd MPs (and it looks like about 5 minutes of Clegg for them to lose most of them again).