You don’t have to look to Paris or Bonn to discover why the Right had such a triumphant night in the EU elections, you could just as easily look to the small Yorkshire town of Rotherham.
In both France and Germany the Right concentrated on the huge swathes of immigrants and the violence which followed them. In the French poll the results (32 per cent Le Pen and 16 per cent Macron) were so staggering that President Macron immediately called a general election.
In Germany, the AFD (which has a number of unattractive attributes) pushed German Chancellor Scholz into third place and was only just behind the Conservatives – which had adopted most of the AFD’s hard-line policies to keep them relevant.
Had the UK still been in the EU I imagine Farage and Co. would have had similar polling to France. And the people of Rotherham will have had more reasons than most to have swung to the Right.
Let me explain. Last week in a poorly reported trial, seven men, all of Pakistani origin, were convicted at Sheffield Crown Court of raping and sexually assaulting two white girls aged between 11-16 in Rotherham.
The girls were plied with alcohol and cannabis before being attacked around the town including in a park, a cemetery and even behind a children’s nursery. The evidence was said by officers to be ‘’some of the most harrowing they had ever heard.’’
These men will be sentenced in September and had been bought to book as part of Operation Stovewood, the National Crime Agency’s huge investigation into child exploitation in Rotherham between 1997-2013.
In that time 1,100 children (almost all girls) were identified as being sexually exploited. It was the biggest law enforcement operation in this country ever. It had taken five years of work to bring these particular pigs to justice.
It’s trials like this, plus the social consequences of GP surgeries, schools, rents and roads all being put under the most incredible pressure, which have led to Farage being listened to in the UK and the huge swing to the Right in the EU.
What I find puzzling is just as the voice of ordinary people is being properly heard for the first time in Europe why is it that Labour is 25 per cent ahead in the polls when Starmer’s immigration policy will lead to more not less coming here.
After all, it is Labour voters who often have to live with the consequences of a virtual open door on immigration. It is them who can’t get a doctor’s appointment, it is them who can’t get their child into their preferred school, it is them who have to pay a higher rent because they are competing with both the legals and illegals from abroad for the flats.
These issues have led to a major move to the Right in Europe. Macron sees it as a threat to France and the future of Europe which is why he says he is calling the election. He still has three years to go in office and he’s calling the voters’ bluff to see if they would really be prepared to make Marie Le Pen Prime Minister.
I think they just might. She’s been reasonably close to becoming President before, so my sense is that the French might enjoy watching a Macron-Le Pen tussle. Plus, of course, it would fascinating to see if Le Pen could actually run a democracy.
It’s one thing to say what policies you would follow, but entirely different to see if your plans had not worked out as envisaged.
Personally, I think Macron’s gone quite mad. The EU election are similar to our by-elections in that they are often just a protest vote. The public want to give the sitting government a kick up the backside.
That would not be true of Rotherham who have for many years had their protests about sexual attacks on their children by Pakistani men ignored.
If they voted hard Right we would have no right to complain.