Seaside resort set to make waves in British by-election

CLACTON-ON-SEA, United Kingdom – The coastal resort of Clacton could trigger a sea change in British politics on Thursday, October 9, by voting the anti-EU UK Independence Party into parliament for the first time.

The by-election comes ahead of nationwide polls in 2015 and will propel this quiet community fronted by amusement arcades, ice cream stands and fish and chip shops, to national prominence.

“I think I’ll be voting UKIP,” said Joe, 78, an ex-Londoner sat on the seafront with his wife, one of many elderly couples enjoying the autumn sunshine on the promenade.

“I really do think it would shake things up. We’re pretty happy but I wouldn’t mind a change,” said Joe, who voted Conservative at the last election in 2010.

The southeast English town’s sitting member of parliament, Douglas Carswell, defected from Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives to the populist UKIP in August.

A euroskeptic for some, an opportunist for others, Carswell decided to resign his seat and fight a by-election in his new colors – and many in the town seem ready to jump with him.

Pitching to those disgruntled with politics-as-usual, the anti-mass immigration UKIP feel Clacton is fertile ground for building a bridgehead before the May 2015 general election.

Clacton’s hastily-opened UKIP campaign office is buzzing with activity as townsfolk and campaigners drop in – in marked contrast to the Conservative headquarters 6 doors down on the other side of Station Road.

Polls show Carswell between 32 and 44 percentage points ahead.

Battle maps on wall

Sat on the pier reading a magazine, Mrs Harris, a retired lady, said she would be voting for Carswell.

“I admire him for doing it, I think he’s got a lot of guts. He’s going with what he thinks is right,” she said.

“I’m not satisfied with the government. I thought I’d give UKIP a chance because I like what they’re saying.”

Clacton, on the North Sea coast, is 60 miles (95 kilometers) northeast of London.

Its tourist destination days began in 1871 with the construction of its pier, still the Essex town’s centerpiece. It drew holidaymakers and day-trippers from London.

However, cheap holidays to Spain ended the 1940s-1980s boom years.

The area has 40% unemployment, ranking 29th out of 632 constituencies in Britain, and is the second most-aged town in the country, with 31.3% of the population 65 or over.

The constituency is 97.4% white.

At the UKIP office, street maps are pasted on the wall, every road in the constituency colored in with different fluorescent marker pens, showing how many times they have been canvassed.

“We’re on the cusp of something here,” said Daryll Pritcher, the UKIP campaign assistant in charge of the battle plan.

Dozens of placards are stacked up and there are four shelves of UKIP goodies for sale like badges, caps, wristbands, ties, mugs and pens.

Strolling about the town center with an ice cream, Carswell, 43, is stopped by constituents.

A woman in a mobility scooter told him: “You’ve definitely got my support, always have.”

Others stopped him to debate immigration – one of UKIP’s central themes – while a roofer wanted to know exactly what he had been doing for the last 10 years.

‘Trying not to die’

“There are some areas in the constituency where people feel they’ve been left behind,” Carswell told Agence France-Presse.

“With the level of political disaffection with the big corporate parties, there’s a lot of fertile ground for a new party that comes along with a very different message. I think that the country is up for change.”

East of Clacton, the constituency includes Frinton-on-Sea, a genteel, well-to-do area of retirees, while to the west is Jaywick, a cramped estate of tiny 1930s holiday homes which came bottom in the nationwide 2010 Indices of Multiple Deprivation.

Matching the UKIP-minded voters in Jaywick with personal support for Carswell in rock-solid Conservative Frinton will be key to his chances of success.

The Conservative candidate, local councillor Giles Watling, is better-known nationally for his part in the 1980s Liverpool sitcom “Bread”.

Despite efforts, he could not be reached by Agence France-Presse.

Cameron and several cabinet ministers have visited Clacton in a bid to rally support, their names self-penned on the walls of the Conservative office, where a bust of former leader Winston Churchill greets visitors.

One campaigner wearing a Conservative rosette, who did not give his name, said Carswell “let us down terribly.”

“What kind of pointer is it when treachery seems to be rewarded with glorious honors?”

Former Conservative MP Matthew Parris, now a columnist for The Times newspaper, suggested the party should abandon UKIP-minded elderly voters in places like Clacton to chase after younger, cosmopolitan types instead.

He said Clacton “represents a Britain that’s going nowhere”, “a friendly resort trying not to die, inhabited by friendly people trying not to die.” – Rappler.com