A sleeping giant who waits to stir

Todays Midhurst and Petworth newspaper describes us as the sleeping giant we are.

Depending on which part of West Sussex you drive through you will see banners and posters proudly supporting the UK Independence Party (UKIP).
But is UKIP a realistic voting option, or just a 21st-century version of Dad's Army, hoping to beat back a foreign invasion using pitchforks and rolled up copies of the Daily Telegraph?

I spent an hour with the UKIP leader Nigel Farage and a chap called Paul Nuttall, the party's newly-appointed chairman. As well as being the party's leader, Farage is also a member of the European parliament for south-east England.

UKIP admits under the current electoral system in the country ('first past the post') it has a long way to go to becoming a serious choice in a general election. However, locally and in Europe it hopes to gain further support for its aims.

Desperate to move on from its image as a 'one-issue' party, where its principal aim is the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union (EU), UKIP have fleshed out a domestic agenda that would be music to many ears. Policies include freezing immigration for five years, a grammar school in every town, locally-run clean hospitals with a return of the matron, more investment in our armed forces and fair prices and competition to end the plight of our suffering farmers.

Such pledges are admirable but expensive. Farage is quick to point out UK membership of the EU costs us a staggering £40m a day – once out of the EU this money would then be used to fund priorities closer to home.
Having a preconceived notion of UKIP I actually found them refreshingly different from other political parties. They seem to have a firm grip on what really matters to the people in this country.

While Brown and Cameron rip chunks out of each other and people struggle to identify Nick Clegg, here is a party highlighting issues that matter to a lot of us.

I am not a betting man but I'm willing to take a punt that as more folk become disenfranchised with the so-called mainstream political parties, UKIP will pick up serious support.

With the European elections less than nine months away the sleeping giant that is UKIP is starting to stir.

And it's a giant that I would rather have on my side than be up against.