Succes for UKIP in local elections

When the European election results are published it is widely expected that the United Kingdom Independence Party, UKIP will have performed very well.

And already the party's success in local elections is causing the other parties to reconsider their polices.

Geology: - earthquakes, tremors, volcanoes - is the new language of politics in Britain because these are the words most often used to describe the impact UKIP is having on political discourse here.

Britain is electing 73 MEPs and very soon we will discover if UKIP will have the most.

Currently they have 13, the same as Labour but less than the 25 held by the Conservatives.

Encouriging signs for UKIP

UKIP's leader Nigel Farage is very confident:

"We've certainly seen a few tremors today. I'm not going to count any chickens before they are hatched, but I would say the signs are encouraging. I mean, sticking my neck out It may be tight, but I think we're going to get there, yes", said Nigel Farage.

UKIP has been portrayed as a xenophobic, far-right party.

And when Farage openly says that he would feel uncomfortable if Romanians lived next door, he opens himself to such criticism.

But this is too simplistic.

UKIP has very few policies, except to leave the EU

UKIP has always portrayed itself as pro-UK rather than anti-foreigner.

In this way it frequently calls up images of a time when life was supposedly much more simple; when everyone knew their neighbour, and felt they were just like them, when if you worked hard, and honestly, you and your family would be rewarded.

The world now is much more complex -- violence and crime, indiscipline, corruption, lack of security about jobs, too many foreigners doing jobs that should be done by Britons. It does not matter that objectively this is a false picture.

UKIP has very few policies, except to leave the EU.

So the racists, the xenophobes, those who oppose anti-homsexual rights can vote for the party along with those who do not want wind farms or major roads near where they live, or who want to lift the ban on smoking in buildings. It is the party where innumerable prejudices and fears can find a home and be given a voice to.

It is a party of all things to all men.

The other parties are having to take notice of UKIP, and the difficulty they face is that they have not found a means to combat the general sense of unhappiness in Britain.