Uk politics

London is, like the rest of the country, heading to the polls today. Coffee House went down to Brixton High Street to find out how people intend to vote, and gauge their views on Nigel Farage and UKIP. We found some some who intend to support Farage, others who were more apathetic. This is what they had to say: listen to ‘The people of Brixton on Ukip and Nigel Farage’ on Audioboo And on the other side of town, the people of Chelsea (although less willing to chat) had polarising views on Ukip and the Farage racism row: listen to ‘The people of Chelsea on Ukip and Nigel Farage’ on Audioboo Worryingly, many interviewees were opting out because they weren’t aware of the elections or were ignorant as to how to vote.

When polls close tonight, another vote will open in one part of the country that could cause a bit of European trouble for David Cameron. Tory MPs Peter Bone and Philip Hollobone and Conservative candidate for Corby Tom Pursglove are running a In/Out referendum in North Northamptonshire, consulting around 250,000 people across three constituencies on Britain's membership of the European Union. The trio have timed the poll for after the European and local elections have closed for votes but before the result of the European elections is declared, partly so that they cannot be accused of making trouble in any way. They are, they argue, simply following Conservative party policy (now rather than two years ago, when a referendum was not Conservative party policy).

The rhetoric with which we are exhorted to vote is grand and sententious: do your civic duty; people died so that you could etc. etc. The rhetoric with which we're exhorted not to vote is grander and more pretentious still. All of it makes voting sound like something between a chore and a possibly pointless low-level military mission, a matter of long queues and secrecy and mild, pervasive paranoia. In fact, for me at least, voting is a small but reliable pleasure. The thing I miss most about my old flat in the middle of Peckham is the polling station that came with it.

Ed Miliband seems to have clambered out of the wrong side of bed this morning. The Labour leader has been touring the TV and radio studios, where his answers have become progressively worse as the day went on. First up, Miliband spoke to Good Morning Britain about the 'cost-of-living crisis'. When asked whether he knew how much the average weekly household grocery bill was, he said ‘it depends on how much you are spending and how big your family is’. Then when questioned on how much the Miliband household spends, he said: ‘We probably spend £70-80 on groceries at least, probably more than that.

The next set of net migration figures are, conveniently, released on the day of the European and local elections. Some wonder whether this will add grist to the mill of those on the Tory Right who want to cause trouble for Cameron as they can demand that he crack down further on immigration. But I've discovered that if there is one demand eurosceptics will make, it will be for the Prime Minister to scrap the target, rather than try harder to meet it. The reasoning behind this is that the Prime Minister could argue that freedom of movement in the European Union makes it impossible for the Conservatives to have any real chance of meeting this target, save by introducing ever-tougher restrictions on non-EU immigration.

How similar are Ukip and Tory voters? Although the party hierarchies are keen to distance themselves from each other, there's plenty of overlap in the opinions of their supporters. Firstly, both groups are enthusiastic about heading to the polls this Thursday. A few weeks ago, Ukip was slightly ahead of the other parties in the likeliness to vote ratings. Now the polling says they're far more likely to vote than the Tories. According to the latest poll, almost three quarters of 'kippers say they will definitely vote on Thursday compared to a little over half for the Tories: [datawrapper chart="http://static.spectator.co.uk/4YxMN/index.html"] The Tories and Ukippers have similar views on Faragiste warnings about Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants coming to the UK: they believe them.

Let's be fair, however, UKIP have not cornered the market in weirdness. One of the odder elements of the Scottish independence campaign is the manner in which so many Yes voters deny being nationalists: I support independence but please don't make the mistake of thinking me a nationalist. I only support nationalist aims, like.  I suppose this is just about tenable if you are a member of the Green party or if you swim in one of the Yes campaign's other minor tributaries but it's a mighty rum thing to hear from members of the SNP. Which brings us to Pete Wishart, member of parliament for Perth and North Tayside. The other day he tweeted that he has "Never much cared for any 'nationalisms' whether Scottish, British or Whateverish.

Let me be clear, any time you feel the need to write "Let me be clear - UKIP is not a racist party" you are in a pickle. Parties shunned by actual, honest-to-goodness, copper-bottomed, ocean-going racists don't usually need to make these things clear. There is a protesting-too-much vibe here, too, in which the more strenuously the Kippers reject the accusation so they only succeed in substantiating it. This might not be fair but it's also life. The precise point at which a party for racists or a party in which racists feel at home becomes a racist party is a metaphysical question the pondering of which need not detain us. Suffice it to say that Mr Farage's admission there are plenty of "idiots" within UKIP speaks for itself.

After Michael Fallon suggested that the Conservative party could campaign for the UK to leave the EU if a renegotiation proved unsuccessful, the Prime Minister's official spokesman was today asked about David Cameron's view on this. He said: 'The position hasn't changed. The Prime Minister is confident of success.' The Prime Minister's position is that he will definitely get the changes he wants and therefore he knows already that he will campaign to stay in the European Union in 2017. So the possibility that the party might have to campaign to stay out is being read in some quarters as a suggestion that Fallon and other ministers don't share his confidence and don't think he'll get the renegotiation result he wants.