Douglas Carswell

Britain is run in the interests of vested interests

UKIP is to politics what Aldi and Lidl are to supermarkets.

For years, British shoppers have been paying over the odds for everyday groceries. And because most of the retailers were at it, no one seemed to see it.

Then along came Aldi and Lidl. Two decades after they started to show customers what good value looks like, they have reached a tipping point. The established players aren't just losing market share. If they don't adapt fast, there's even talk they may go under.

Cartel politics has not just left us out of pocket. It's a lousy way to run a country.

For decades, voters have never been offered the full spectrum of public policy options. It's a fix. Faux debates rage between the frontbenches, but on the fundamentals, ministers meekly defer to mandarins. Government-by-Sir-Humphrey has led us inexorably towards national decline.

Public debt has doubled in five years. The banks are unreformed. Immigration remains uncontrolled. Opportunities for new trade agreements with Asia and Africa have been squandered. Does our country still have a foreign policy?

So much of Britain is now run in the interests of vested interests. From energy and banking, to politics and PFI contractors, the rules seem to be written by those on the inside, with no reference to the country outside.

A system of crony corporatism has incrementally replaced free market capitalism - which explains why the economy might be growing, but not the living standards of ordinary folk.

Neither of the two established parties can even see this because they are part of the problem. Career politicians in SW1 are another to the vested interests running our country in their interests.

The Conservative party has been run by an out of touch clique for the past decade. Labour has been run that way since Tony Blair's lot took over. One gives us Matthew Parris, the other produces Emily Thornberry.

UKIP stands for fundamental, far reaching change in the way our country is run. We need to bust open the cartels in the energy markets and banking, public procurement and PFI – and yes, politics, too.

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