Letter: Ukip growth

I THINK David Maddox is wrong when he argues (Inside Politics, 17 April) that if Ukip rebrands to become the party of the middle classes then the Tories will be in trouble.

Firstly, the Conservative Party has intentionally abandoned its core constituencies. There is no need for Ukip to rebrand, as it is gradually eating away at Tory support with its current strategy.

First the activists defect, then elected politicians start to do so too; voters will inevitably follow.

Secondly, the middle class is far from being the only part of the electorate which has been forgotten by the older parties, and which Ukip should be targeting.

The white working class, Christians, social conservatives generally, rural voters, the armed forces and small business people are all segments of the electorate whose views and interests are largely ignored.

The older parties represent broadly a single big government approach to all problems, and that approach is bureaucratic, metropolitan, equalities-obsessed and public sector-led. Ukip merely needs to focus its message as the exact opposite of this to continue growing at the expense of all of yesterday’s parties.

Otto Inglis

Inveralmond Grove

Edinburgh