Political party could not widen its appeal
DO you remember the Referendum Party? Euro-sceptic, they were founded by billionaire Sir James Goldsmith and put-up lots of candidates in the 1997 General Election.
All, however, lost their deposits, making Goldsmith realise that when it came to Westminster votes, people considered a wide range of issues before deciding who they were going to support.
Tory-leaning Euro-sceptics didn’t want to risk a Labour candidate winning by voting for another party, while Labour-backing Euro-sceptics didn’t want to see the Tories winning their particular constituency.
So, Goldsmith changed tack, creating a cross/non-party Democracy Movement (DM) that would campaign on issues such as ensuring Britain didn’t join up to the Euro.
It didn’t stand at elections, and so Austin Mitchell and myself could happily join the DM while remaining loyal to Labour. UKIP, however, took a different route and stood at elections. Indeed, they gained a modicum of success at local council level, even winning an election to the European Parliament.
But they only ever won a single seat at any General Election (in 2014), while leader Nigel Farage failed in his many attempts to get elected to Parliament.
Why? Well, it was largely due to the same reason that the Referendum Party failed, in that a party which focussed on a single issue couldn’t widen their appeal. Which brings me to the situation in Scotland, and the troubles of the Scottish National Party.
For really, they are just a singleissue party, the same as UKIP was. Trying to widen their electoral appeal, they have come up with all sorts of problems relating to transport, climate change and gender issues on which there isn’t a single Scottish-orientated viewpoint. Having failed to win the 2014 independence referendum and being told that a second vote isn’t on the cards, they don’t know which way to turn.
A sign perhaps that we should put the Government once led by Salmon and Sturgeon out of its misery!