Farage blasts electoral system as Ukip juggernaut grinds to a halt
THE Ukip juggernaut appeared to have come to a halt today as the party had gained just a single MP as the sun rose.
Douglas Carswell held on to his Clacton seat but fellow Tory defector Mark Reckless went down to his Conservative challenger. In South Thanet, where leader Nigel Farage was hoping to win a seat in the Commons, the result was delayed after a particularly high voter turnout. Ukip also failed to win in Bootle, where deputy leader Paul Nuttall was standing, and in Shrewsbury & Atcham, where future leadership contender Suzanne Evans fought.
Mr Farage had previously said he thought his party would win a double digits number of seats. The poor show- ing came after Ukip caused an earthquake in British politics last year by coming first in European elections. As he waited for his result Mr Farage hit out at the electoral system: “I do think the system is bust and I do think there’ll be great demand for it to change.”
Mr Carswell also blamed the UK’s first-past-the-post electoral system for his party’s poor showing. Speaking after he won his constituency, he said: “Here, in our part of Essex, people voted Ukip and they got Ukip.
“Yet across the country about five million people will have either voted for Ukip or for the Green Party. Those five million people will be lucky to get a tiny handful of MPs in the House of Commons.
“That failure to translate those five million votes into seats is less a reflection of how my party or the Green Party campaigned, rather it tells us how dysfunctional our political system is.”
The Conservatives were glad to see t h e b a c k o f Mr Re c k l e s s a f t e r h e defected before the Tory conference last year.
After his defeat was announced, Tory Tra n s p o r t M i n i s t e r C l a i re Pe r r y tweeted: “Hallelujah. Mark Reckless out. Don’t let the door hit your fat arse as you leave.”
Mr Farage had indicated he could quit if he was not elected. He said: “Ukip got lots of votes — lots of voters will be angry they’re not going to be represented.”