Local elections: UKIP’s ‘phenomenal performance’

What few results there have been so far suggest that UKIP has scored about a quarter of the vote and gained more seats than Labour.  A ‘phenomenal performance’ says Prof John Curtice. Nigel Farage now looks like the main winner, suggesting that his party is mutating from an EU protest party into a being broader party of the working class.

The local elections have nothing to do with the European Union so there’s no rational reason that one-in-four voters would chose UKIP — unless they believed the party was addressing their concerns on wider issues. The reason that David Cameron’s referendum pledge did not shoot the UKIP fox is that Farage has adopted a broader agenda, and one he has successfully communicated to millions of voters. For years, journalists like myself have been declaring UKIP to have reached a high water mark, but its water keeps rising higher.

• UKIP came second in South Shields last night, going from zero to 24% of the vote.