It's Independence Day in Wythenshawe East & Sale

Polls open today in the Wythenshawe East & Sale by-election after what is possibly the dirtiest by-election campaign we have ever seen, with an unholy alliance of Labour and BNP supporters abusing UKIP activists and voters and committing criminal damage.

The police have had to be called to UKIP's campaign headquarters in Sale four times during the campaign because of the hate campaign which has seen a generator stolen from the office, graffiti daubed on the shutters, stink bombs thrown at the office and harassment and abuse of UKIP activists and voters. People in Wythenshawe & Sale have been ordered by Labour and BNP activists to take down UKIP posters from "our houses".

UKIP has seen by-elections where the local Labour mafia believe they own the whole area and have a god-given right to rule it for all eternity but this is the first time that such wanton criminality has been openly used against the party in a by-election campaign.

The result of the election has almost certainly been decided by postal votes, which Labour - with the help of the corrupt trade unions - always has stitched up (literally). With a big turnout there is a chance of toppling the Labour mafia in Wythenshawe East & Sale or at the very least of giving Labour the bloody nose it deserves.

Another attack leaflet targeting UKIP

The fake UKIP leaflet being distributed in Lancashire has attracted a great deal of media attention with the local party inundated with requests for interviews from radio and newspapers wanting to talk about it.  Probably not what Cumbria County Councillor, Tina Macur, was hoping for when she put the leaflet out but then if she was bright she wouldn't be a Tory.

It's not just Labour and the Conservatives indulging in negative campaigning though, this leaflet is being distributed in Debden and is believed to be the work of Loughton Residents Association (a political party contesting these elections).

The claims in the leaflet are nonsense of course.  A vote for UKIP is a vote for UKIP, the party hasn't backed the BNP for anything and UKIP has no control or influence over whether the EDL or any other group decides to support the party.  UKIP is still the only party to ban past and present members of the BNP, National Front, EDL and other extremist groups from joining the party.

Desperate times call for dirty tricks, it seems

The Tory sleaze machine has been in overdrive since the weekend but that's not the only attack on UKIP in this election - activists and candidates are stealing and defacing posters, attacking candidates in the media and in their leaflets and using their influence to otherwise interfere with UKIP election campaigns.  It is a sign of how desperately scared the LibLabCon are of losing that they put so much effort into attacking UKIP.

In Shropshire, a Conservative councillor defending his seat against one other candidate - UKIP's David Baynham - posted pictures of himself on Facebook stealing UKIP posters.  His Tory-controlled parish council later instructed Baynham to remove his posters from lampposts, describing them as an "eyesore".  Elsewhere in Shropshire the Labour Party went onto private land to staple their own posters onto UKIP posters.

In Leicestershire a young candidate has been described as homophobic by his Conservative opponent for signing a pledge against same-sex marriage, potentially interfering with his work as a youth worker in the gay community much to the detriment of the vulnerable youngsters he supports.

UKIP posters in Roade and Towcester in the East Midlands have been stolen and at least two candidates are claiming to have had their Facebook accounts hacked and inappropriate comments posted in their name at the same time that the Tories have been targeting UKIP candidates' social media accounts and causing trouble on Facebook with fake profiles claiming to be UKIP supporters.  At least one Conservative candidate has designed their leaflets in UKIP purple and yellow colours to try and confuse voters, just like they did in the Eastleigh by-election in February.

Update:
This fake UKIP leaflet is being distributed in Lancashire:

So who is behind this deliberately misleading leaflet? Let's take a look at the other side ...

Is it still an offence to mislead voters?

LibLabCon dirty tricks in the face of UKIP threat

The big question on everyone's lips for next week's elections is just how badly are the LibLabCon parties going to do at the hands of UKIP.

If you want to know how worried they are about the threat from UKIP then you just need to look at their leaflets and the behaviour of their candidates.

All over the country UKIP candidates are reporting LibLabCon leaflets directly targeting UKIP, warning that a vote for UKIP will split the vote and let in another party.  None of them have positive reasons for voting for a LibLabCon party, they just warn about splitting their vote as if they somehow have an automatic right to a certain percentage of the vote.  As most people have finally come to realise from recent council by-elections, a vote for UKIP lets UKIP win.

There is also a "false flag" campaign with activists from other parties creating fake profiles on Facebook pretending to be UKIP members and saying ridiculous things to try and discredit the party and antagonise UKIP supporters.  One Conservative Party activist happily admitted to doing it when he was caught out and said he was "just doing [his] job".  His fake profiles and his own account have since been suspended by Facebook.  There are also reports of some of these activists phoning in to radio talk shows pretending to be UKIP members and doing the same thing.

We're currently at DEFCON 2 on the Gandhi scale: