UKIP lose major financial backer
The UK Independence Party’s (UKIP) major financial backer has confirmed that he will not be funding the party at the next general election.
Yorkshire businessman Paul Sykes has contributed £1.4 million to the UKIP cause, and in the past decade is believed to have spent around £5 million in fighting closure integration with Europe and the single currency.
Mr Sykes is believed to have withdrawn funding from UKIP partly because he is unhappy with the proposal to contest UK parliamentary seats. He is believed to feel that UKIP that though supporting the party is a viable option in the European election, they are not in a position to win the next general election.
Though Mr Sykes has yet to confirm if he will be funding any party in the next general election, there are hints that he might transfer his considerable financial muscle to the Conservatives, which would provide a welcome boost to Michael Howard.
In an interview with BBC’s Newsnight, Mr Sykes suggested that the Conservatives are beginning to come up with policies he supports on Europe.
He said: “I think that there are better policies coming out of the Conservative Party in many, many years and it looks like they are waking up to the fact that it is not a bad idea to make our own laws in our Parliament by our own people rather than importing them from un-elected Brussels.
“I arrived at my decision because the press has been asking me questions as to whether I would be funding the UK Independence Party at the next general election. I decided I would not be doing that.”
Mr Sykes concluded that he was “very pleased” to hear that the Conservatives would be renegotiating fishing rights to bring them back to Britain along with other powers from Europe should they win next year’s general election.
