Maitland Political Insight United Kingdom Independence Party Conference 2014 UKIP Conference 2014

Maitland Political Insight – Edition V - UKIP Conference - September 2014

Contents

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………….3

Economy ……………………………………………………………………………………….....4

Immigration………………………………………………………………………………………..4

Employment and welfare…...... 5

Business………………………………………...………………………………………………...5

Energy………………………………………………………………………………………….….6

Transport………………………………………………………………………………………..…6

About the author……………………………………………………………………………….…7

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UKIP Conference 2014

This past weekend I headed north as the People’s Army descended on sun-soaked Doncaster Racecourse for the biggest annual conference in UKIP’s 20-year history. Fresh from their victory in May’s election, ’s party looked to build on this success and used the occasion to set out a “blue-collar platform”. This aims to extend their appeal beyond the base of predominantly ex-Tories and attract Labour voters, as well as those who feel “left behind” by the main parties.

While the old themes of the European Union and immigration were ever present this conference saw a wider range of policies announced. The new group of spokesmen and women, appointed to see off the charge that the party is a one-man band, unveiled pledges to cut taxes, reform the welfare system, legislate for local referendums on planning decisions and promote free trade. The 2015 manifesto will propose:

• Raising the personal allowance to £13,500 with no tax on the minimum wage

• Reducing the higher tax rate to 35% and cutting the top rate to 40%

• Regulating the use of zero-hours contracts and scrapping the “Bedroom Tax”

• Support for shale gas extraction, coal and nuclear generation

• Introducing an Australian style points-based immigration system

• Securing free trade agreements with the Commonwealth and stopping the US-EU transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP)

Of course, the main event from the conference was the shock, though not altogether surprising, defection from the Conservatives of . The Rochester and Strood MP, seen as one of the backbenchers most likely to jump ship, was revealed to rapturous applause from the party faithful as he took to the podium to argue that it was impossible to keep his promises as a Tory. With a precedent now set by fellow defector Douglas Carswell, Reckless has resigned his seat and will fight the resulting by-election under his new colours, likely to be held in November.

Farage’s strategy is now clear: secure a handful of MPs and hold the balance of power in the next parliament. At the very least UKIP are on course to be a disruptive force, making this general election one of the most unpredictable yet.

Laurence Garfield

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Economy

Economy spokesperson and former Daily Express political editor Patrick O’Flynn MEP announced an ambitious list of priorities which he said would be “finalised and rigorously costed” by independent experts before the publication of the election manifesto next year.

In a nod to the cost of living crisis, likely to be a key battleground at the next election, O’Flynn re- stated a previous commitment to take those earning the minimum wage out of tax altogether. Alongside this he pitched to the low paid and middle earners, recommending an increase in the personal allowance and argued for tax cuts across the board: “[we will] cut the 40 per cent rate where it starts to 35. So a 35 per cent rate would start at earnings just above £42,000 and apply all the way up to £55,000. Only at earnings of £55,000 would the 40 per cent rate become payable.”

Pressing home this tax-cutting agenda he revealed that UKIP would go further than the Conservatives in reducing the top-rate of tax in addition to abolishing inheritance tax. To a standing ovation from the conference floor, he also promised to raise the personal allowance to £13,500.

In contrast to this economically-liberal message however, O’Flynn ended his speech by saying he wanted to “investigate the feasibility of imposing a luxury goods rate of VAT”. Although this measure was seen as a way to demonstrate UKIP’s agreement that the broadest shoulders should bear the heaviest burden, it proved too much for Farage and he categorically ruled-out the inclusion of any such charge to journalists later that day.

Immigration

Touted as the star of the conference by the press, immigration policy was handled by ex-City lawyer MEP who added migration to his finance brief following the election in May.

His headline announcement was the introduction of an Australian style points-based immigration system limited to accepting a total of 50,000 migrants per year. This would be paired with withdrawal from the international treaty on asylum seekers: “UKIP will support the measures to abolish the provisions of the Dublin Treaty, that says that we cannot choose to identify the country an illegal migrant comes from if they do not have any identifying documents. We will send you back.” Woolfe went on to pledge separate “priority” immigration points for British citizens in tandem with supplementing the UK Border Agency by an extra 2,500 staff.

Finally, he backed demands to strip passports from those who go to fight abroad: “UKIP will remove the passports of any person, who has gone to fight for a terrorist organisation, and anyone who came here and was granted, and lucky enough, to have such a passport, and carry out terrorist activities, you will also lose it, because there are lots of people who want that passport.”

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Employment and welfare

The blue-collar pitch was clear in the speeches on jobs and welfare.

Building on the scheme to take the minimum wage out of tax, MEP proposed a draft code of conduct that will impose “a duty to offer a fixed hours contract to anyone who has worked on a zero hours contract for a year.” Borrowing the much-used “British jobs for British workers” line, Collins added that employers should not be sued for discrimination if they opt to hire a “young unemployed British person” over a foreign applicant.

Deputy Chairman said UKIP’s approach to welfare would be one which “recognises the need to provide a strong safety net when circumstances prevent people being self- sufficient financially, but one which also sends a clear statement that welfare abuses will not be tolerated”.

The party would “crack down” on fraud in the welfare system, end welfare tourism with a five-year embargo on benefits for migrants and limit child benefit to two children for new claimants. On the other hand, job seekers who have already paid tax and national insurance for five years would see higher payments.

Business

Boosting entrepreneurs and enterprise culture was at the core of the announcements on business.

Small Business spokesperson MEP was keen early on to paint the divide between the main parties’ support for multinationals in contrast to UKIP’s own backing for SMEs and individuals: “The Conservative Party loves big business – well UKIP is all about small business. They are the backbone of our economy and the principal driver of our labour market.”

Liberalising the economy was still firmly on the agenda with calls to slash red-tap and de-regulate the labour market. Parker said: “Once out of the European Union, we would restore common sense flexibilities, which would allow more people into work, but more than that, would create a more robust, flexible labour market.” She also raised the need to streamline the planning system, somewhat at odds with the pledge to introduce local referendums on housing, wind farm and supermarket developments.

As well as this, there were moves to address the skills gap, especially the number of “university graduates with non-degrees in irrelevant subjects”. Deputy leader MEP echoed this in his speech, were he criticised the target of 50 per cent of school leavers going to university and said he would abolish tuition fees for the most able students studying science, technology, maths or medicine.

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Energy

Shale gas, nuclear and coal all got the seal of approval from delegates as veteran MEP outlined a plan for cheap, secure energy.

Helmer, a long-standing climate change-sceptic, heavily criticised wind farms and solar energy subsidies. He argued that Britain should repeal the Climate Change Act and abandon the EU's target for renewable electricity generation, because green levies were one of the main drivers of rising energy bills, fuel poverty and jeopardised the success of energy intensive industries.

In place of renewables, Helmer reasoned that shale gas fracking should be “welcomed with open arms”, warning against negative press from environmental groups he dubbed “Big Green”. A sovereign wealth fund would be established to ensure that the revenues from the shale gas boom are shared across the country.

Further to this, the government would need to embrace a comprehensive programme of building nuclear power stations in order to avoid the risk of importing increasingly insecure fuel supplies from abroad.

Transport

Road and rail dominated with aviation entirely absent from ’s first speech as Transport spokesperson.

The West Midlands MEP struck a populist note early on by declaring that UKIP would continue to oppose High Speed 2 on the grounds of cost, failure to make the business case and the destruction of heritage sites. She said some of the £50bn earmarked for the project could instead be used to boost the existing rail network: “While our conventional railways remain woefully under-funded and ticket prices spiralling out of control, it appears they [the government] are oblivious to the escalating cost of this vanity project.”

Turning to the roads, Seymour positioned herself on the side of the hard-pressed motorist facing pot holes, motorway tolls and higher fuel duty. She committed herself to scrapping plans to introduce “pay as you go road pricing” and said she would seek more revenue through a “Brit-disk”, a levy on every foreign registered vehicle entering the UK.

In a further attempt to appeal across the political divide, she said the party would end tax-payer subsidies for electric vehicles on the one hand, while also maintaining concessionary travel passes for the elderly.

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About the author

Laurence Garfield, Consultant

As perhaps the only public affairs consultant who is a member of UKIP, Laurence has a unique insight into the party, its leading figures and policy. Managing the research team for Maitland Political, he provides daily monitoring notes, in-depth weekly political digests and extensive briefings to clients across a number of sectors.

Prior to joining Maitland Political, Laurence developed an extensive knowledge of Parliament during his time working for two high profile Conservatives: first with David Cameron when Leader of the Opposition and then in the office of outspoken former MP Louise Mensch. Once a seasoned Tory campaigner, he assisted a number of successful candidates during the 2010 General Election and held office as a town councillor.

Now active in UKIP, Laurence was part of the campaign team at the recent Newark by-election and will be heading to Clacton and Rochester to help Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless defend their seats in the coming weeks.

You can contact Laurence at: [email protected]

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