The United Kingdom Independence Party (which also uses the expansion UK Independence Party, commonly known as UKIP, pronounced /?ju?k?p/ roughly yoo-kip) is a conservative, eurosceptic political party. Its principal aim is the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.
UKIP currently holds thirteen seats in the European Parliament and two in the House of Lords (the latter due to the defection of Conservative peers). It also has around 100 local councilors on principal authorities, town and parish councils. It claimed a membership of 14,630 on 31 December 2008.
In the 2009 European elections, UKIP came second in the UK, beating the governing Labour Party but although the share of the vote increased by 0.4%, to 16.5%, the number of people voting UKIP dropped from 2,650,768 in 2004 to 2,498,226 in 2009, to give it a total of thirteen seats in the European Parliament.
UKIP’s current leader is Malcolm Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch, who was elected as leader on the 27th November 2009, who succeeded Nigel Farage to become the party’s seventh leader.
Also see UKIP Policies Debate for discussion on specific UKIP Policies. For a United Kingdom Independence Party discussion not covered below feel free to create your own forum topic at United Kingdom Independence Party Forum.
Please use the comment form below to describe why you will or will not be voting UKIP at the 2010 General Election.