UKIP sets its sights on winning in Sussex at the General Election

The party’s full-scale attack on the county is spearheaded by pledges to protect local hospitals and greenfield sites while continuing to push the party’s anti-EU agenda.

The Argus can reveal the UKIP candidates behind every parliamentary seat in Sussex, their reasons for standing and their intentions should they be elected in May next year.

They include a candidate whose first priority would be to build an A27 bypass with as “many tunnels as possible” to preserve the environment and another who would hold a referendum against government plans to “bulldoze” Sussex in a bid to build 10,000 homes.

Last year, UKIP chief Nigel Farage told The Argus his party would be targeting seats in Sussex come the General Election on May 7 next year.

There was, he said, a chance of “real purchase” in the county. Fast forward a whirlwind year that included European election success, Tory defectors and a by-election in Clacton, Essex, that gave the party its first MP, UKIP claims to be making waves across the country.

The UKIP fox really could be ruffling feathers inside the Westminster hen house in May.

Today, The Argus can reveal the party’s prospective parliamentary candidates in Sussex behind the push for power in Westminster.

As part of party policy to try to win every possible seat in the land, all 16 constituencies in the county are being targeted.

They include a candidate who wants to build a bypass on the notorious A27 as a priority, with as many tunnels as possible to preserve the environment, a former soldier who blasted his town’s current MP as “oblivious” and a historian and author who is “fighting to stop our country’s disastrous descent into a sinister, unelected European single state”.

Mike Glennon, prospective parliamentary candidate for East Worthing and Shoreham and a West Sussex County councillor, said local authority seats had been falling UKIP’s way “like dominos” over the past year thanks to the party’s “common sense” policies.

He said: “Across Sussex, the support for UKIP in the European elections was quite amazing and we romped home well ahead of the Tories in places like Adur, Worthing, Bognor and Littlehampton.

“Underpinning these results was perhaps the excellent pedigree that UKIP has been generating at county council level in both halves of Sussex.

“In the West we are the official opposition, while in the East we hold real leverage on a hung council.

“District and parish council seats have also been falling our way like dominos and in my own constituency area of East Worthing and Shoreham, UKIP holds no less than 18 council seats.

“Recent parliamentary by-elections now indicate that the British electorate is ready to push UKIP and its common sense policies up into the national arena.

“My message to voters in this part of the world is that UKIP is the only party championing independence and home rule for Britain.

“Vote UKIP, you get UKIP. Vote Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat and you’ll simply get the European Union.”

On the face of it, Mr Glennon has a task on his hands come the general election. He will be pitting his wits against Tim Loughton, who has held East Worthing and Shoreham since 1997. nAnd there is no love lost between the two men.

As recently as last month, Mr Loughton accused UKIP members of “being content to carp from their armchairs” and “peddling completely discredited figures from what the UK would save by coming out of Europe – yet they have already spent it several times over on oddball schemes”.

In Brighton, Green MP Caroline Lucas will be challenged in Pavilion by UKIP’s Nigel Carter, while Conservative Simon Kirby will be taken on by East Sussex County councillor and Fire Authority member Ian Buchanan in Kemptown.

In Lewes, Lib Dem favourite Norman Baker will be challenged by UKIP’s fisheries spokesman and South East MEP Ray Finch – the latter a close friend and ally of Nigel Farage. Mr Finch is somewhat of an outsider to the county, having previously served as leader of the UKIP group on Hampshire County Council until he stepped down when he won his European seat earlier this year.

Mr Finch said: “Because I believe absolutely in the democratic process, I relish the challenge of ousting Norman Baker by convincing Lewes voters that the only way to ensure their children and grandchildren can enjoy the quality of life experienced by their parents and grandparents is to vote UKIP.”

Elsewhere, Tim Cross aims to oust Tory MP Sir Peter Bottomley in Worthing West.

Mr Cross, a UKIP member for nearly two decades, has pledged to save Worthing Hospital from cuts while declaring he is “totally opposed to bulldozing green fields to build houses”.