The United Kingdom Independence Party (commonly known as UKIP) is a small party that aims at British withdrawal from the European Union.
Although the EU is without a doubt UKIP's main raison d'etre, it rejects the notion that it is a single-issue party. Socially, its policies a generally in line with the liberalism of the British Conservative party of recent times, and its economic stance is strongly Thatcherite.
Although it would take Britain out of the EU, it would then support British entery to NAFTA, which some eurosceptic opponents consider to be counterproductive.
Despite both that the UKIP is well funded, and that a large section of the British public are sceptical of the E.U, the party has generally fared comparitively poorly at the polls. This can be at least partially explained by the increasingly eurosceptic positioning of the Conservatives, who have won support of potential UKIP voters. Small political parties of any kind however usually fare badly under the First Past the Post electoral system.
The UKIP has a small number of local councillors and two Members of the European Parliament - originally three before Michael Holmes, the former party chairman, resigned from the party in march 2000. He represented the South West England constituency as a non-aligned MEP before handing in his resignation in 16 December 2002.
