The danger of UKIP is not its xenophobia

Shamelessly stolen from the Unions Together web pages:

Although clearly not a xenophobe himself (the current Mrs Farage is German), the UKIP leader is happy to pick up racist votes provided his candidates' views don't make it into the national media and embarrass him into dropping them. Abolition of immigration is not his real aim, although this is the implied hook which lures away Labour voters as well as Conservatives and neo-Nazis.

What Mr Farage and far too many Conservatives want is a return to a Thatcherite low-wage, low-skill economy, where the only real money is to be made in the financial markets. The only difference between them is that the Tories believe they can negotiate away the social chapter from within the EU.

Top marks to the trade union campaign for avoiding the crude attacks on "racists and nutters" which is the main parties' line on UKIP, and which may well be counter-productive, and concentrating on issues rather than personalities.

But before anyone decides to switch to Labour as a result of the TU propaganda, I should point out that both Blair and Brown had to be forced kicking if not screaming into adopting social legislation from the EU. Under Blair-Brown, the UK was the last nation to pass anti-age-discrimination laws, for instance.