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Politics

Will there be a civil war if UKIP win the next general election?

50 replies

ODearMe · 27/05/2014 07:51

Disclaimer: I am not well versed/read in politics but am starting to become very interested in it as I get older.

Given the latest result of the European elections, it is looking likely that UKIP have a very good chance of winning the general election.

I read their manifesto and while I agreed with some of what was said, I felt disconcerted by a lot of it. For example, banning burkhas in public and private buildings. While the burkhas is thought of by many as a symbol of repression, some women may choose to wear it. In life, all people want is choice, but to take this away from them in their very strong belief is going to stir up a lot of fury in the Muslim community and possibly a create a civil war or riots.

I know this sounds an extreme statement but I cannot see how it will be avoided. What do you think?

OP posts:

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GotMyGoat · 27/05/2014 07:56

They don't have a chance as far as the news goes - the only reason they got in is because the EU elections are proportional representation rather than first past the post, so it is highly unlikely that UKIP will win the elections next year - but they may end up with a larger chunk then we would hope.

I'm not sure about civil unrest - it could be expected in London, which is a very tolerant area, if the rest of the country decides to be racist...

CalamitouslyWrong · 27/05/2014 08:00

Voting patterns in the European elections don't tell us anything much about the general election. Ukip certainly didn't 'win' the local elections and they were taking place at the same time as the European ones.

teaandthorazine · 27/05/2014 08:00

UKIP have absolutely no chance of winning the next GE. Thank fuck.

GotMyGoat · 27/05/2014 08:04

UKIP don't have that enough people to represent for the local elections, but they got a good amount of the vote in the areas they did stand in, now that they have achieved the EU seats I would expect to see them recruiting more people to represent every area.

EmmaB99 · 27/05/2014 08:04

Or can you imagine a coalition party consisting of the Conservatives and UKIP. That's also a distinct possibility :(

GotMyGoat · 27/05/2014 08:05

I mean I could laugh at that Emma, but then who would have ever imagined the Conservatives and Lib Dems sharing a bed?

meditrina · 27/05/2014 08:06

Civil war?

Who do yo see leading awarding factions and how will they be armed/supplied? And which side will the existing Armed Forces go to, and who is capable of taking them on?

If you want to see what Civil War looks like in Europe, I suggest you start by looking at a brief history of the break up of Yugoslavia (the conflict that gave us the phrase "ethnic cleansing".

UKIP may well win seats in the next General Election. It would take sometime before they could win anywhere like enough to form a Government (last new party to do so was Labour in early 20th century).

treaclesoda · 27/05/2014 08:07

I think there is far too much apathy in the UK for most people to be arsed having civil war about anything tbh.

nagynolonger · 27/05/2014 08:11

UKIP are not going to win the next general election. We have had demonstrations/rioting over various issues. The miners strike and the poll tax riots were the worst I can remember. Feelings ran very high but we were no where near a civil war.

What makes you think people outside of London are racist?

Amrapaali · 27/05/2014 08:12

What treacle said. That is all.

meditrina · 27/05/2014 08:14

The Army, Navy and Air Force have enough rivalries that they'll never co-operate with one warring faction over another. And I expect would stay with HMQ and a properly elected government.

I cannot imagine who would raise an opposing army, in terms of arms supply, let alone recruiting and training fighters.

ODearMe · 27/05/2014 08:19

Ok maybe civil war far fetched but definitely violence and rioting

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mrsruffallo · 27/05/2014 08:23

No, there won't be. As you said, you don't know much about politics.UKIP arent racist.

DrankSangriaInThePark · 27/05/2014 08:23

As has been said by someone far more erudite and witty than me, the only thing that causes nearly enough harrumphing for civil war to be a possibility is when the schedulers at the beeb move Eastenders.

Which says a lot really.

Violence and rioting? Nah. The people who really suffer from successive governments' policies are too busy getting themselves off to their minimum wage/zero hour contract jobs to have the strength left to chuck a brick through PC World and nab themselves a new ipad.

GotMyGoat · 27/05/2014 08:24

Erm... yes they are.

mrsruffallo · 27/05/2014 08:29

Generally, English people are tolerant and not racist. They wouldn't have voted for a racist party. Nigel zFarage has said he wont share a platform with zFrench NF because they are racist. Why would he say that?

Ohwhatfuckeryisthis · 27/05/2014 08:31

Never thought I'd say this, but thank fuck we don't have pr. I think their blatant lack of real policies apart from the dm/red top crowd pleasing immigration policy will show through. (But I do wish there was a viable alternative fourth party, not one who makes my teeth itch)

nagynolonger · 27/05/2014 08:33

Gotmygoat you implied people outside of London were racist. What makes you think that?

CalamitouslyWrong · 27/05/2014 08:35

Ukip didn't do well everywhere they put up local candidates though. The media reporting of it all is nonsense. They certainly didn't do well round here (to put it mildly). They came last in my ward. In this city, Ukip managed to get similar numbers of votes as bnp candidates did in the wards they stood in.

meditrina · 27/05/2014 08:37

There were race riots in Bradford, Burnley and Oldham. The then Government contained them swiftly.

I expect future governments will act as effectively as Labour in dealing with civil unrest.

Or even the coalition (Tottenham, but that wasn't straight racism; like the difference between Broadwater Farm and Brixton, for example).

Civil War is however a real possibility or indeed reality in many parts of the world.

I hope when thinking of Civil War, it does not become trivialised, and that the suffering of countries such as Syria is not forgotten. Nor, to a lesser degree, the plight of those where countries become ungovernable and the likes of Boko Haram go unchecked.

mrsruffallo · 27/05/2014 08:40

No, civil war is not something to be dodscussed ligjtly

GotMyGoat · 27/05/2014 08:43

Oh gosh no, it's not very british to be racist is it? But...

All over suburbia there is this very quiet kind of racism that isn't obvious - particularly from the baby boomers, daily mail readers etc, socially acceptable hatred of Islamic dress...

We are in hard economic times, and so people are searching for a scapegoat -and if you are in an area that is still has the majority of white skin then it is very easy to blame people from other cultures- this idea of "they are taking over the town", Farage saying he was uncomfortable when people were speaking a foreign language on the tube...

If you think most people who voted for UKIP because they wanted out of the EU then I don't believe that's true, they voted UKIP because they want to stop immigration so they can keep their towns 'English', and keep white christian people in the majority.

bleedingheart · 27/05/2014 08:43

I very much doubt we would have civil war in this country. I also doubt UKIP will achieve more than a handful of seats in 2015.

UKIP have become the protest vote of choice after the Lib Dems secured a position of power and left that role. The Lib Dems didn't do particularly well in the 2010 GE but they had enough MPs and enough ambition to allow themselves to be wooed in the Rose Garden.

We're not really a nation of extremes or extremists. Look at the low voting figures. The UK does mass apathy, not mass rioting, as a rule. Our armed forces are generally conservative too so are likely to act quickly to support the government in this scenario.

Squidstirfry · 27/05/2014 08:49

I don't think banning the burkha would lead to a civil war somehow... they did it in France didn't they?

Are you worried about muslims?

The British are very tolerent of all cultures, and would probably find a way to solve internal conflict withour violence/war. All this furore around immigration, is more to do with basic over-crowding than the fact it's other cultures...

MrsWedgeAntilles · 27/05/2014 08:50

Sadly, I don't think civil war is completely unimaginable in this country. We came perilously close in NI in the 70s.
It happens when enough highly motivated people feel that the political process is useless and we are steering closer to that.

The main parties need to get their act in gear, remember what they are there for, reingage with the people and do some good.

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