The morning after her grandparents backed the winning candidate in the Clacton by-election, Sian Davis penned an open letter to Britain’s political class, setting the record straight on why they voted Ukip.
Today, after the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) won the Clacton-on-Sea by-election with a thumping majority, I’m sure that privately you are saying the same things about the people who voted Ukip as you have previously said about the party itself, dismissing them as ‘fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists.’
I know you must be feeling insecure, because the entire British political establishment lost yesterday (not just the Tories). Nonetheless I can’t let you get away with thinking this kind of thing, since it’s my grandparents you are talking about. Knowing them as I do, I want you to know what they are really like and why they are turning their backs on you.
The first thing to understand is that you walked away from them first. I am not even sure how much they are really attracted to Ukip, but they certainly feel that you and yours have spent the past few decades telling me and mine to push off. Westminster, let’s be clear: you brought this on yourselves.
Born in Poplar, now in their seventies, my grandparents have been Labour supporters their entire life but have become completely disheartened by the party recently. They don’t feel that any of the three main parties are really addressing the issues which concern them: immigration, the job market and the welfare system.
They are concerned with immigration not because they are racist. But they believe that people should be proud to be British and embrace British culture. Another thing that angered them is a council scheme for apprenticeships which seems to offer a £2500 grant to every company that takes on an apprentice – as long as the apprentice is not white British. To them, that is racist.
Though they live in Clacton now, it is important to point out that they both grew up in the East End of London. They have seen how much it has changed and it scares them. They told me that they voted for Labour in the belief that Labour was set up to help ordinary working class people, but they can’t see any evidence of that now.
They are also concerned about the job market. As they see it, if thousands of young Brits are unemployed then allowing more people to enter the UK can only increase the unemployment rate. They feel that more jobs need to be created and not just low income ones. They were telling me how 40-50 years ago, you could leave a job on Friday and have a new one on Monday. Also, how you just applied to the council for housing – and you could actually expect to get something in the not too distant future. They cannot believe how difficult it is to get a job nowadays, even a minimum wage one, and how expensive houses are now – especially when compared to the average salary. Ukip are getting votes here by saying that priority for council housing will go to people whose parents or grandparents have lived in the area.
They are also concerned about the benefits system as they feel it encourages people not to work. With the minimum wage being so low some people are actually better off on benefits. They feel this is ridiculous and don’t understand how a government could make it so that you are financially better off not going to work. They feel Ukip are the only party which really wants to change this.
To be honest I do not know if Ukip’s policies are really as racist and sexist as some people say they are. If they are, I know my grandparents wouldn’t support policies like cutting maternity pay, for example. But people like my grandparents will keep voting for Ukip if they feel that no other party really cares about what they care about. One of the main things people say in support of Ukip is that they seem like normal people with normal interests. My grandparents cannot connect with professional politicians who don’t even know the price of milk.
If you want people like my grandparents to reconnect with you, then you will have to make much more of an effort to reconnect with them.
Westminster, it’s up to you.
On the morning after the vote, Rising East Reporter Dan Young hits the streets with his mobile phone to find out why people voted the way that they did.