At the 2000 London Assembly elections, UKIP attracted just under 2% of the London-wide ‘list’ vote.
Four years later, when City Hall elections coincided with the Euro elections, they gained a further 6% and two seats on the Assembly.
Their time on the Assembly was short lived as I’ve recounted before, but their election proved that an openly Eurosceptic message plays well with enough Londoners to gain seats.
Fast forward another four years to 2008 when Europe wasn’t part of the election discussion and they lost their seats.
But the issue of Europe, and the UK’s relationship with it, is now ever present in the news cycle and, as others have noted, UKIP are now polling just behind the Liberal Democrats at national level.
Until a couple of days ago the party was doing less well in London, appealing to just 4% of voters.
But things seem to be looking up for Nigel Farage’s crew – yesterday’s YouGov tracker gave them 7% in the capital, likely to be enough for at least one seat around the Assembly table next May.
