MADAM — At every general election count in Stroud in which a Ukip candidate has stood, they have ended the night in fifth place with a lost deposit.

The recent EU and local elections results clearly show that Ukip continues to have little support in Stroud, with not one single councillor elected throughout the district.

They will almost certainly lose their deposit again next May in the General Election.

Possibly with this in mind and not having any political representation, their activists have precious little to do except to regularly write to the press imploring the electorate to vote for them.

The letter from Brian Cooke (SNJ: September 3) is a case in point.

He lists a number of alleged failings of all the other parties, which they will certainly deny, and ends his writing begging for the electorate to vote Ukip to stop Labour winning the Parliamentary seat.

Should Ukip manage to gain some extra votes from EU sceptics next May, they will still lose their deposit but allow Labour a free ride and deny Stroud a Conservative MP who has publicly stated that he supports an EU referendum.

Readers should also be aware of the utter contempt that Ukip have for those that do not vote for them.

Stuart Love, the losing Ukip candidate at the recent Slad by-election made the outrageous statement that they were “blind and wilful ignorant” (SNJ: August 27).

Ukip are a fringe party that the country sees as just a single issue party.

They will fold or be absorbed by a larger political party once the country has had an EU referendum.

Tom Newman

Stroud