Whipping up anti-EU sentiment from ignorance

Date: 10/06/04

HONITON, Devon - If an alien landed here, as a headway to exploring the UK, it could be forgiven for thinking this was a one-party state. Along the highways and the by-roads, from village to market town, there is only one set of banners: of the UK Independence Party (UKIP).

This party has come up with a very striking poster: on the one side is the blue flag of the EU with its yellow stars and on the other is the word 'No' in bold pink imprinted on a yellow square of equal size to the flag. The simplicity of design makes it comprehensible to all. In fact, if one comes closer, it is possible to discover that the 'No' is for a referendum, which is printed in small letters beneath. But on a motorway one rarely gets near.

Devon is a stunningly beautiful county, especially at this time of year. It is largely rural, with small market towns of a few thousand jostling with a long line of villages, many of which have been there for centuries. Exeter is the most substantial city, but it is not a large industrial complex, as can be found in the north.

This geography is basic to the appeal of the UKIP in Devon: this is not the multi-cultural society of London and the south-east or the industrialized north. Nor is it multi-ethnic, which is why the racist British National Party (BNP) holds little appeal. This is a region that moves slowly and usually contentedly in an age-old manner, living mostly off farming and tourism. But agriculture nearly collapsed as a result of the foot-and-mouth epidemic two years ago and, for many, times are hard. Equally, there is a feeling in the populace that the government, with its anti-hunting agenda, is anti-rural: the people of Devon feel a strong sense of disenfranchisement.

This widespread sentiment has nothing to do with the EU, but the elections for the European Parliament have become a useful platform to express this discontent. Indeed, it cannot be about the EU, since the sheer ignorance of the Union's affairs is appalling: for most it is simply "them in Brussels". What "them" do is beyond the average person when asked. Equally, when you ask why the EU emblem is on the board of a business park, for example, most people look mystified.

Some say "money, I suppose" and then shrug.

This ignorance is the real core of the problem. The debate about the EU in the UK is stuck at the level of politics not policy. Worse still, it is being used in the internal war both within the Conservative Party and the other major political groups.

As such, it is no more than name-calling. There is no substance to the debate - not one party has actually cited a single EU policy, good bad or indifferent, in its national campaign, let alone in Devon. The entire discourse is about the EU as an entity, to be bought and sold at the hustings rather than exposed to the public.

The UKIP enshrines this ignorance, reducing everything foreign - not just the EU - to a simplistic danger: for or against the UK. It's coarse, but, like the banner, it's simple and doesn't demand too much concentration. And that is a sobering reflection on the current state of UK politics.

Under these circumstances, the alien would be advised to leave Devon: it might be mistaken for a European - or, worse still, one of "them in Brussels".

• Ilana Bet-el is a Brussels- based academic, author and policy consultant.

The author considers the election campaign for the June 2004 European Parliament Election in the rural county of Devon (UK) and is appalled at the 'sheer ignorance' among the local population of the European Union's affairs. Article forms part of a European Voice 'European Election Special'.