UKIP East Midlands
Local Elections
The UK Independence party yesterday said it has trebled its number of candidates for the local elections in England in May but acknowledged it would do well to return more than 15 extra councillors.
Launching Ukip's local election campaign at Westminster yesterday, leader Nigel Farage promoted the party as a libertarian band of bureaucracy-busters that would slash council tax, put power back in the hands of local leaders and give people more control over their lives.
"If you want to hunt foxes, smoke cigarettes or ride fast motorbikes, that should be your decision," he said.
Ukip is fielding 1,001 candidates, with its best hopes in Hull, Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees and West Wiltshire.
The party fielded 319 candidates in last year's local elections and claims to have won an average of 10.5% of the vote in those seats. Steve Allison, the party's local election organiser, said the party had "15-18 councillors" nationwide.
While often written about as a threat to the Conservatives, Ukip had done better in Labour-held seats, with 14.5% of the vote compared with 9.2% in Tory seats, Mr Allison said.
