Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage To Debate UK’s Membership of the EU

The European Parliament elections will be held this May, and
there are some
European
politicians who are worried that some voters may turn to
anti-E.U. or racist parties.

One of the most prominent of the euroskeptic parties is the
United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). Nigel Farage, the leader
of UKIP, is known for not speaking ambiguously and for his animated
speeches in the European Parliament (a collection of highlights
below).

Earlier this month British Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of
the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg
challenged Farage to a debate on the U.K.’s membership of the
E.U. Today it was reported that Farage has
accepted and that the televised hour-long debate will be held
on April 2.  

Clegg is a strong pro-E.U.
advocate. He speaks five European languages, has Dutch and
Russian ancestry, is married to a Spaniard, and served as a member
of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004.

The pro-E.U. Liberal Democrats are one of the two parties in the
U.K.’s coalition government. Their coalition partners, the
Conservative Party, has some euroskeptic members. Indeed, much of
UKIP’s support comes from disgruntled former Conservatives
supporters, who are not happy about the Conservative’s position on
British membership of the E.U. British Prime Minister and Leader of
the Conservative Party David Cameron has pledged to
hold a referendum on the U.K.’s membership of the E.U. in 2017
if the Conservatives win the next general election.

What shouldn’t be overlooked regarding this debate is what the
British public think of Clegg, Farage, the Liberal Democrats, and
UKIP.

Unfavorable opinion towards Clegg has skyrocketed since the last
general election. A day after the 2010 general election only 19
percent of poll respondents of a
YouGov poll said that Clegg was doing “badly.” A year later
that figure was 71 percent and the most recent figures from last
month shows that 70 percent of respondents believe Clegg is doing
“badly.” Another collection of polling by
YouGov shows that currently only 9 percent of respondents would
vote for the Liberal Democrats, down from 18 percent in June
2010.

UKIP, which is currently polling slightly
above the Liberal Democrats, has enjoyed some recently increased
popularity but remains marred by embarrassing
scandals, prompting the party to ask members who are interested
in standing for office to declare that they have no
“skeletons in the cupboard.” Dan Hodges recently wrote a blog
post for The Telegraph titled
“UKIP is now a racist party” in which he outlines some of the
unpleasant behavior on display at UKIP’s recent spring
conference.

After the announcement of the debate YouGov put together

some polling information of Farage and Clegg. It doesn’t look
great for either of the men. I can’t see how putting them in the
same room for an hour to talk about the U.K.’s membership of the
E.U. is going to change these perceptions very much.