Today I witnessed the town that I grew up in become the first seat in parliament for UKIP, a truly historic day but for all the wrong reasons.
The far right have been growing in support across Europe and not just in Britain with the rise of the French National Front as well as UKIP. I’m not going to bore you with the horrendously outdated policies of UKIP (specifically on the EU and gay rights) or any other far right party, or any of the history of far right parties in Europe as this is common knowledge. However, UKIPs views are obviously very appealing in a place like Clacton. It is a place where 1 in 5 children live in poverty and people earn far less that the national average, it is a place that successive governments forgot. Once upon a time Clacton was a hub of activity with Londoners flocking there for holidays by the sea side, but with the easy access of package holidays they now prefer destinations such as Spain or Italy, leaving Clacton (which has always relied on tourism) without a supportive economy. Clacton has a mostly retired population who are by and large economically inactive and there are little opportunities for those few young people that live there (I know because I was one of them.) This has left the town in an almost permanent economic depression.
I wasn’t surprised that Clacton was prime territory for a party like UKIP because many people want someone to blame for the bad situation they are in and the easiest scapegoat to look to, perpetuated by the media, is the European Union or immigrants (of which in Clacton there are very few.) But this is wrong and it is the fault of governments that have ignored Clacton and other seaside towns across Britain. Consequently, the infrastructures of the towns have crumbled and so have the ambitions and aspirations of its people. Clacton is the epicentre of a social problem in Britain, there is low-education and low wages teamed with boiling frustration amongst its people, and I do not believe that the election of a UKIP MP will change the desperate situations of many people living in Clacton. Therefore, I am surprised at the apparent support for Douglas Carswell, a man who has been the MP in Clacton since 2005 and who I personally have not seen do much to improve employment opportunities or social conditions in the town (just look at the queue for the Job Centre). Also, a man that is so focused on taking the UK out of the EU and inevitably away from the protections, especially for women on equal pay and unfair dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy.
Today, I am sad for a town in which I have so many happy memories and in which I had a lovely childhood even if the lack of opportunities pushed me to leave. I wish that I did have more reasons to stay but under the backwards leadership of UKIP it seems that I have little reason to return.
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