United Kingdom Independence Party
The United Kingdom Independence Party (often called UKIP, said "you-kipp") is a political party in the United Kingdom. Its policies promote conservatism, nationalism, and BREXIT. Their main policy is for the UK to leave the European Union.
UK Independence Party
Data
Founder: Alan Sked Founded: September 3, 1993 Preceded by: Anti-Federalist League HeadquartersLexdrum House Unit 1 King Charles Business Park Old Newton Road Heathfield Newton Abbot TQ12 6U Website: [ukip.org]
Background
Nigel Farage was the leader of the UK Independence Party until July 2016
The party first won seats in the European Parliament in 1999. They won 3 seats in 1999, which was increased to 12 in 2004 and 13 in 2009. It is now 9. The party does not do well under Britain's 'First-past-the-post' system of elections and only has one seat in the British House of Commons, although they received 3.8 million votes (12.6% of the total vote) at the 2015 UK general election. Supporters of UKIP mostly believe in the following things:
- The United Kingdom should leave the European Union.
- There should be more referendums on certain issues.
- British people should not have to carry ID cards.
In 2008 UKIP banned people who used to be members of the British National Party from joining. On 9 October 2014 Douglas Carswell became UKIP's first elected MP. Carswell quit the party in March 2017.