Brittisk populism

Det finns brittiska politiska analytiker som tror att populistpartiet UKIPs väljare ”egentligen” ligger nära de konservativa i sin politik. Så är inte fallet, skriver Matthew Goodwin i The Times. Artikeln hänvisar också till hans bok  Revolt on the Right: Explaining Public Support for the Radical Right in Britain.

Här en sammanfattning som torde skapa bekymmer både till höger och vänster i brittisk politik:

 78 per cent of Ukip voters think that ordinary people are not getting their fair share, almost thirty percentage points higher than the figure for Conservatives. They are also the most likely of all voters to feel that there is “one law for the rich and one for the poor”. Nor are differences between Ukip and Conservatives voters slight – almost three-quarters of Ukip voters agreed with the left-wing ideas but less than half of Conservatives do so.

So what does all this mean? Ukip voters are worried mainly about the social issues of immigration and Europe, but also share a left-leaning and rather populist worldview. In some respects this should not be a surprise because since 2010 Farage has been winning over the “left behind” – Britons who are struggling, pessimistic and resentful toward elites. But it does raise questions for the main parties.

That Ukip is not simply dividing the right is reflected in the fact that many of its voters feel closer to Labour on economic issues. This is another reason why the rise of Ukip raises questions for the left as well as the right. When Miliband argues that globalisation exploits workers, that businesses taking advantage of employees, that workers do not get their fair share and that wealth should be redistributed, most Ukip voters agree. His problem is that for Ukippers these anxieties are secondary to far more intense concerns about immigrants and the EU. David Cameron and Lynton Crosby, meanwhile, have put the economic recovery and long-term economic plan at the centre of their offer. But they should be warned that while most Ukip voters are not feeling the recovery they also think fundamentally differently about the economy from many Conservative voters. That Cameron often appears as a member of the rich elite loathed by these “left behind” voters also comes with an obvious risk.

As we head into the short 2015 campaign all the parties would do well to reflect on the economic as well as the social drivers of the Ukip phenomenon.

Som svensk läsare ställer jag mig frågan om det går att göra en snarlik analys av SDs väljare. Jag vet inte svaret på den frågan.

UKIP