Caution against Ukip ahead of elections

CATHOLICS are being urged to vote in this month’s European ­elections by the England and Wales bishops’ conference spokesman on European affairs, who also ­cautioned against the policies of the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip), writes Christopher Lamb.

Bishop William Kenney, who represents the English and Welsh hierarchy at the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (Comece), said: “I am not at all convinced that the policies that Ukip is proposing are the best things for the poor and underprivileged.”

Bishop Kenney added that he did not support Ukip’s policy of Britain withdrawing from the European Union.

“One of the things the EU has always stood for from its very founding is that all its members should have a standard of living which is in conformity with human dignity,” he told The Tablet. “I honestly believe we should be members of the EU. I just don’t see what the alternative is for a country like the UK.” He said the EU had maintained peace on the Continent which recent events in the Ukraine show is “not a given”. 

Bishop Kenney urged Catholics to vote on 22 May, particularly in view of the turnout in Britain at the last European elections in 2009 which was just 34 per cent.  

The Bishop of Portsmouth, Philip Egan, also urged Catholics to vote and not to “yield to cynicism” about the elections. In a message to his diocese, the bishop said people should research candidates carefully to see where they stood on issues such as abortion and euthanasia along with the “holy institution of matrimony”.

He added that Catholics should not simply fall back on to “customary party affiliations”.