Stand Up: UKIP's Youth Membership Leaps

By Jason Farrell, Senior Political Correspondent

There were many silver heads among the 2,000 strong Doncaster audience listening to UKIP leader Nigel Farage's speech.

But peppering the audience, there were also a number of young faces: perhaps 50 to 75 people in the under-30 age range.

Among them was 22-year-old Jack Duffin, chair of the Young Independence group and UKIP challenger to Boris Johnson to become MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

He told Sky News that UKIP was beginning to attract young voters on many levels: "Education policy, tax policy, our policy on grammar schools all appeal to young people."

He added: "Many are sick of the old parties. Also having a leader who is different and blunt is going down really well."

The Young Independence group has seen membership leap from 1,700 in March this year to 2,600 now.

Mr Duffin claims it is the fastest growing political youth movement in the UK, (although the Generation YES campaign in Scotland would probably beg to differ).

Speaking about Sky News' Stand Up Be Counted (SUBC) campaign, the party leader Nigel Farage admitted he still had "a long way to go" to attract young members and "a lot could be learned from Alex Salmond" and the tone of the Yes campaign.

Jack Duffin, Chair of the Young Independence group

He said: "I think the whole tone of the UKIP campaign is more positive. The youth wing of UKIP is up 50% on what it was last year. There are a lot more young faces at this conference than we've ever seen before."

Click here to visit the Stand Up Be Counted website

UKIP student societies have started up at the universities of Dundee, Bath and Chester.

The Chester branch is run by 20-year-old Dayle Taylor, who is also planning to stand as a candidate for UKIP in Blackburn.

He said: "For me originally, it was the whole question of should we be governed by a parliament in London or a parliament in Brussels, but UKIP is now about much more than that."

Others have more surprising reasons for joining the Party. Youth member Laura Howard said: "For me it's about animals and common fisheries policy.

"Because we are in the EU, it's not so bad now but deep sea trawlers could come into our seas and damage the environment. Also I don't agree with European transportation and the conditions in the European slaughter houses."

She added: "I'm pro-democracy - and I think the EU is anti-democratic."

Nineteen-year-old Brett Rickles told Sky News: "I think the most exciting policy announcement at the conference has been scrapping tax on the minimum wage, as well as the reduction or abolition of tuition fees for people taking science degrees."

A few years ago UKIP was a flourishing, angry anti-establishment party.

The kind of movement you might expect to attract the young.

But for some reason, perhaps the ultra-conservative image, its average age delegate was pushing on retirement.

As UKIP grows up, as well as attracting more Labour voters, it does seem to have a growing youth movement; but it is rising from a very low base.

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