British general elections to Westminster use the first-past-the-post system, or FPTP. In this system, the candidate with the most votes wins the seat. By taking votes away from the Conservative candidate and giving it to UKIP, it means that the Lib-Dem or Labour candidate is more likely to win the seat by gaining more votes than the other candidates. UKIP cannot win the election, at best, it could only a couple of seats under this system (most UKIP sympathisers, including myself, will vote tactically for the Tories in order to keep Labour out).
I would say to those who would prefer to vote UKIP that if the Tories don’t get in, the consequence will by at least 5 years of Labour misrule, during which time they will be introducing more bonkers big-brother, big government policies. Say what you like about the Tories with their gay marriage and other social liberal BS. At least they have gone against Labour’s impulse to try and turn Britain into North Korea Lite. The have refused to implement statutory legislation to restrict freedom of the press via the Leveson inquiry for example, whereas Labour and the Lib-Dims have been screaming for it. Rest assured that freedom of speech and freedom in general will suffer if Labour get in
Is 5 years of Labour quasi-stalinism worth it?
Gee. All the Tories have to do is co-opt enough of the UKIP’s platform to gain their votes - but they won’t do that will they?
So let the Labour pukes win, until the Tories learn better, or until the UKIP has enough force to shove them aside. Because, from the US viewpoint, there isn’t a whole heck of a lot of difference between “Tory” and “Labour.”
UKIP is no more “damaging” to the Tories than the Lib-Dems are to Labour. Frankly, if I were in the UK, I’d likely be pretty darn close to a single issue voter to get out of the EU. The EU is the most Fundamental threat to the peoples’ sovereignty that we have seen since the Vikings were raiding 1,200 years ago. I could not, in my conscience, vote for a Tory that had any intention of trying to work things out with the Germans and the Technocrats. There are some short-term differences between the Tories and Labour on taxes and social issues, but this issue is the one that really pulls the strings on the fundamental function of government and self-determination.