UKIP now has no MPs - Carswell quits party

Yesterday Douglas Carswell announced publicly that he is to leave UKIP but will continue to represent the people of Clacton as an independent. Here's his statement:

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister is going to trigger Article 50, beginning the formal process of withdrawing our country from the EU. By April 2019, Britain will no longer be a member of the EU. After twenty-four years, we have done it. Brexit is in good hands.

UKIP might not have managed to win many seats in Parliament, but in a way we are the most successful political party in Britain ever. We have achieved what we were established to do – and in doing so we have changed the course of our country’s history for the better. Make no mistake; we would not be leaving the EU if it was not for UKIP – and for those remarkable people who founded, supported and sustained our party over that period.

Our party has prevailed thanks to the heroic efforts of UKIP party members and supporters. You ensured we got a referendum. With your street stalls and leafleting, you helped Vote Leave win the referendum. You should all be given medals for what you helped make happen – and face the future with optimism.

Like many of you, I switched to UKIP because I desperately wanted us to leave the EU. Now we can be certain that that is going to happen, I have decided that I will be leaving UKIP.

I will not be switching parties, nor crossing the floor to the Conservatives, so do not need to call a by election, as I did when switching from the Conservatives to UKIP. I will simply be the Member of Parliament for Clacton, sitting as an independent.

I will leave UKIP amicably, cheerfully and in the knowledge that we won.

At the hundreds of meetings and action days I have attended as a UKIP activist across the country since I joined in August 2014, I have met some truly remarkable people. You are heroes! Thank you and well done. I wish you all well.

When first elected to represent Clacton in 2005, I promised to do all I could to help ensure that Britain left the EU. To the consternation of my then party whips (some of who, I’m delighted to see, are now ministers helping make Brexit happen), I made my intentions on that front plain in my maiden speech. Job done.

I will be putting all of my effort into tackling some of the local problems affecting the NHS in our part of Essex, including GP shortages and the threat to our local Minor Injuries Unit. In that spirit, I called a Westminster Hall debate last week about the future of primary care in our part of Essex. Local comes first.

Cheer up! The days when small elites can try to arrange human social and economic affairs by grand design are coming to an end. Change is coming – Brexit is just the beginning.​

The party is finished -- despite never having won a UK parliamentary election on its own steam it has been the catalyst for bringing about the most major upheaval in British politics since the "loss" of Empire.

Quite an achievement for Farage - and catastrophic blunder by Cameron (I mean politically.)

I agree, I think UKIP will fade away over the next couple of years and that the majority of UKIP voters will switch to the Tories.

Quite so Timmers -- but as i suspect you know there is a fairly hefty cohort of working class former Labour voters who voted UKIP for whom the Conservatives would not be their immediate first alternative.

With pressures on jobs, wages & services driven by austerity and migration shifts it's always the most vulnerable who suffer. I just hope we don't see a resurgent far-right hoovering up disgruntled votes... it's happened before and now in other countries.

The reason I think UKIP supporter will shift their allegiance to the Tories is to shun up Brexit as May looks like giving UKIP supporters what they want. Another reason is the fact that JC and his Labour party no longer appeal to ex Labour voters including myself, the shift to the Tories will be a likely option as they will not turn to the Lib Dem brigade who of course want to stop Brexit.

Copeland.

Definitely.