Standing for UKIP

One of the best ways for anyone to support UKIP is to stand as a candidate in an election and there are a number of ways to do this

Town & Parish Councils

Parish and town (local) councils in England are the first tier of local government. There are around 10,000 local councils in England and Wales, made up of nearly 100,000 councillors.

Each County has it’s own regional association who publish the contact details for each council . Click HERE for further information

Many of these councils have vacancies waiting to be filled and represent a serious opportunity for UKIP activists to build their profile whilst engaging with their communities. Representing a political party is not mandatory at this level and many councillors state no affiliation.

Where vacancies exist you may apply for co-option onto the council although using this method means that it is often desirable to be well known to other councillors as two of them must propose and second you. Alternatively you can force a by-election by gaining the signatures of 10 local residents (who are on the electoral register) requesting an election to fill the vacancy. In many respects this may be desirable since it means you can affiliate openly to the party.

Nomination for an election on these councils generally requires just a proposer and a seconder from the community and will very often result in an uncontested election.

From that moment an activist may refer to themselves in all correspondence as Cllr Fred Bloggs which is proven to gain more coverage locally than a plain member of the public might expect.

Borough Councils, County Councils and Unitary Authority Elections.

Even at this level an activist can stand for the ward in which they live either as a campaigning candidate or a paper candidate

We find there is a lot of confusion surrounding paper candidates so here is how it works:

Standing as a paper candidate means that you are happy to stand, with your name on the ballot paper, but do not intend to campaign and do not expect to win the election. It costs absolutely nothing to stand in this way. There is no deposit to be paid by candidates in this type of election.

Nomination requires a proposer, a seconder and eight assentors from the electoral roll of the ward in question. If you can get these for yourself, great, but if not then your local branch or the North West office will happily despatch activists to gather the signatures on your behalf and ensure the nomination paperwork is all present and correct.

Paper candidates are very important to UKIP because while would like to have an active and committed member who is determined to win in every ward at every election we know this is not possible. As a paper candidate you give the voters of your community the most important gift: CHOICE

The most common theme of messages we received through the North West web site during the 2012 council elections was in relation to those wishing to vote UKIP but finding no candidate on the ballot paper.

National & European Elections

UKIP now has a national candidate assessment program. If you feel you have got what it takes to be a candidate in these, the most significant elections we take part in, please contact the North West Regional Office.

NORTH WEST OFFICE 0800 107 0304