Following the nationwide election for Members of the European Parliament held last week which saw UKIP take the highest number of seats in the South East (four), Stewart Blackmore, Labour Party Parliamentary Candidate for the Isle of Wight said,
“This was a very good result for the IW Labour Party. We increased our vote by 30% and the Libdems are in meltdown.
“I believe that Labour has a real chance to get an historic result on the Island on 7th May 2015. We must convince those, especially the Libdems who voted in 2010, to vote Labour next time.
“UKIP benefited from a huge apathy vote, with people fed up with politics letting the big two know how cheesed off they are. I am of course disappointed that 12% of the Isle of Wight electorate have voted for UKIP, a party with no policies and whose MEPs will not try to get things done in the European Parliament for Isle of Wight organisations and people.
“Past results show us that the European election results do not translate through to the general election and that UKIP will retain roughly 25% of their vote, most coming from right wing Tories. Lord Ashcroft’s poll at the weekend illustrated this quite clearly. Only 7% of UKIP votes come from left-of-centre parties, the rest coming from the Tories, BNP and the rest.
“This result shows that the Liberal Democrats are no longer a credible opposition to the Conservatives on the Island and are in meltdown, nationally and on the Island.
“So, the big question is – where do their 22,000 votes go in 2015 on the Island? I cannot believe that a majority of mainly left-of-centre voters would support any of the two very right wing candidates, whose policies are really indistinguishable from each other. Therefore the only way to prevent a right wing candidate winning on the Island is to vote Labour and I would suggest that alienated Libdems and the Greens do just that.”
Image: Shot by Lucy Boynton
