Despite Labour’s historic win on Thursday many councillors are raising concerns regarding UKIP’s increased popularity among the electorate on a local and national level.
Following her re-election in Gorton South Councillor Julie Reid readily voiced her concerns despite beating second place UKIP candidate, Bob Catterall, by 1781 votes.
Cllr Reid told MM: “I’m obviously so happy that we’ve won but I’m really sad that people don’t understand what UKIP are about and that they’re a far right fascist party!
“They don’t want any state funding, they don’t want the National Health Service and they want philanthropists filling in the pot holes.”
Cllr Reid went on to highlight the Liberal Democrat’s coalition with the Conservatives as one of the factors behind the increase in UKIP votes.
She said: “People are looking for another party because the Liberal Democrats have sold out to the Tories and people seem to think that UKIP are offering an alternative. But I will continue to fight to get people to understand.
“I’ve fought five times to get Labour back in and I will keep fighting for my constituents.”
Amid fears that the 2015 general election could be thrown into turmoil if Scotland votes for independence in September’s referendum, Cllr Reid also said that a coalition for Labour would be out of the question.
She told MM: “I’m worried about the Scottish vote too. We don’t want another coalition and Labour wouldn’t ever go into a coalition. We want to do what we did in 1997 and fight for the working people.”
UKIP gained their first two seats in Greater Manchester in Thursday’s local elections in Bolton and gained 128 seats nationally.
