UKIP’s membership continues to fall.
Indeed, it has now got so bad that Farage has decided to offer the unsuspecting public free membership!
But there is a catch. You have no voting rights and no say in how the party is run. How very convenient and how very UKIP!
From the UKIP website:
The formation of a Con-Dem coalition has left millions of British voters disenfranchised – no-one voted for this unworkable hybrid.
So straight talking UKIP is offering disaffected Conservative, Lib Dem and Labour voters the chance of a FREE year’s membership to give voice to their discontent and a chance to show the old failed parties that you believe in honesty and transparency in politics, not shabby deals made behind closed doors.
Members receive personal invitations to area events in advance, a regular digital newsletter, and access to an exclusive members’ online resource and forum. However, members joining under the FREE scheme, do not have internal party voting rights.
End of extract.
So what happened to the UKIP Constitution and Section 4.9?
4.9 Members shall receive a membership card and the Party's newsletter. They shall be entitled to vote in all relevant internal Party elections.
Withholding this right from new members is discrimination. Would you really want to join a party that will treat you as a second class citizen, without membership rights or voting privileges?
This sordid little scheme is nothing more than a confidence trick to hoodwink UKIP's fee paying membership into thinking that the party is growing, when in reality the real membership is still shrinking.
Perhaps UKIP’s resident legal buffoon – Michael Zuckerman – can explain the legality of the scheme?
And what will the Electoral Commission say? Will they approve of a party that denies new members a say in how it is run?
The UKIP membership card is so dated! 1960's design and it's colour; bright yellow and brown - YUK!
ReplyDeleteNo young person will want to be seen carrying that around!
I want a 'cool' looking membership card.
Call in the professionals and move with the times ....
No voting rights BUT free membership!
ReplyDeleteBit like City Councils taking on staff on 'temporary contracts'
which means they can't get a mortgage because the job is not permanent ...Yes, I have a good job, but I'm homeless.
Bit like getting free home insurance only to find out you can't claim for fire and burglery!
Bit like a frustrated spinster finding her Prince Charming, only to find that he is in fact a she! .....What no nooky!
Bit like a man taking a Viagra tablet and it working, only to find out that she who he picked up is fact a he!
Bit like wanting a 'Hung' Parliament and then finding it's a Con/Lib Dem coalition, and then wishing for a Labour government again!
There's no such thing as FREE membership.
There's a cost.
Your signature .....words have power ....