Stretford and Urmston Ukip candidate Kalvin Chapman believes the party can ‘hold its head high’ and gain more support in the future, despite not winning as many seats as anticipated.
Ukip finished third in the constituency behind the Conservative (53%) and Labour (27%) parties with just over 10% of the vote.
“I think nationally UKIP can hold its head up – we certainly are going to be over 10%, probably 15% nationally,” he said.
“Locally in Stretford and Urmston, we can definitely hold our heads up, and in Greater Manchester as a whole, I know we can hold our heads up.
“We’ve got the message out with good candidates and the reaction we have had has been brilliant.”
Mr Chapman expected Ukip to only win two seats nationwide following the exit poll and was disheartened that the party couldn’t have had more of an impact.
“I suspect we will at the most have two [seats], but I thought we would probably have gone nearer 12,” he said.
“We’ve come second in a lot of seats.
“I genuinely thought we would win Heywood and Middleton by a good margin and apparently we came second.”
The Ukip candidate believed that the party had done well in the circumstances considering their limited resources.
“I think its gone really well. We didn’t have the kind of money that the other parties have to throw at their campaigns,” he said.
“We didn’t have the people. We only had six on the team and just getting the leaflets out took until Wednesday.
“So we didn’t get the campaign going that we were hoping to, but the increased numbers were going to see means that people will look at UKIP again in this area.”
He revealed he was enthusiastic about the future of the party and was expecting increased support in future elections.
“From what we’ve seen down on the floor I’ve got some very good numbers, but the Conservatives have got more than I expected them to get,” he said.
“I suspect if there isn’t an overall majority for the Cons and there is a very good chance there will be a new election in November and we thought there would be.
“The view of the party is that if we get a good second in most seats then in a second election, or in 2020 when the next election is, we will get many more firsts.”
Image courtesy of Twitter, with thanks.
