by Samuel Dale
Ukip is losing and its future is bleak. Its poll rating is being squeezed and its manifesto was an aimless ragbag of populist ideas.
It wants to attract lefty Labour voters and right-wing Tories so it ends up with an incoherent, hollow message.
The manifesto wanted increases to the carers allowance and an end the bedroom tax while slashing income tax for the wealthiest.
The only thing they can all agree on is leaving the EU and attacking immigrants.
This unholy alliance will boil to the surface after the election, especially if Nigel Farage loses in South Thanet and has to quit.
The seeds of the discontent were sown at the party conference in Doncaster last year with the party riding high amid defections and rising polls.
At an Institute of Economic Affairs fringe event on economic policy was the libertarian immigration spokesman and MEP Steven Woolfe and the economics spokesman and MEP Patrick O’Flynn.
MEP Tim Aker and Tory activist Tim Montgomerie were sat by their side and the session was hosted by ex-Lib Dem and IEA director-general Mark Littlewood.
Earlier in the day, O’Flynn had set the conference tone by unveiling income tax cut proposals for middle earners by raising the 40p threshold and introducing a new 35p band.
But he also unveiled a “wag tax” proposal to increase VAT to 25% on luxury goods such as expensive cars and shoes.
