2012-04-24

Britain's UKIP now the third largest party

The UK Independence Party is now the third largest in Britain, based on the latest poll numbers, displacing the Liberal Democrats. Their top issue is a referendum on British membership in the EU. Thus far, UKIP hasn't won any seats in parliament, but they are said to be responsible for some Tory losses and their rising popularity means they could win or deal a much bigger blow to the Tories in the next election. They seem to be much closer to the Tea Party in the U.S. and Your Party in Japan, than to the National Front in France. That is, they are a fringe movement with many mainstream ideas and the most likely outcome is those ideas are incorporated into one of the existing party's platform or in a more extreme scenario, they eventually take over or replace one of the existing parties.

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