The United Kingdom Independence Party, or UKIP for short, enjoyed a surge in popularity ahead of Eurovision. In early May they managed to average 26% in county council polls, gaining 140 seats. The party wants Britain to retreat from Europe and leave the European Union, among other things.
Team Wiwi ain’t political, but we couldn’t help but notice that the party has said that if it ever becomes a governing party it will ban the United Kingdom from participating in the Eurovision Song Contest. They say that independence doesn’t merely mean having a country of only UK-born citizens. Apparently it involves eliminating all the ways that promote it to people and make them want to live in the United Kingdom from other countries. And unfortunately the Eurovision Song Contest is one of these ways.
A few years back, the Government were trying to get the BBC to give up its EBU funding of £173,000, but the BBC fought solemnly and won the fight to keep its funding. It’s as if the Governments have a hatred for the Eurovision – God knows why…
So, if UKIP were to be elected, do you think the BBC would battle for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest? Or do you think they’d accept matters and close up shop? This is totally hypothetical but fun nonetheless, especially given the corporation’s string of blunders in recent years. (See this one).
My personal opinion is that they’d fight for the participation – with 7,700,000 views on the 2013 contest, I doubt the BBC would give up ratings like that easily. In the interview after the fight, they said, “We will continue to support and enter the contest, as long as it gets the ratings.” In the last 5 years, it has gained an average of 800,000 views, from 2008, which received 7,100,000 views.
So… I want YOUR views! Let me know below!
Jamie Bondason contributed this report from the U.K. Keep up with the latest Eurovision news by following the team from wiwibloggs.com on Twitter @wiwibloggs and by liking our Facebook page.
According to UKIP, people think “Wow, I love the British entry this year. I think I’m gonna move there”. Interesting.
Maybe they could ban BBC from doing internal selections instead?
UKIP is living half a millennium ago. No International relations = no money.
UKIP have not demanded it, a subsection of votes in a poll who support UKIP supported the idea of a referendum on the UK’s ESC participation. If UKIP have ‘demanded’ it, let’s see the press release or link to an official UKIP source.
And that is why I will always continue to add “Wiwi” and a big ‘X’ on my ballet papers every 4 years.
Hello Padraig, it’s not only BBC, it’s the UK itself from entering. They’d get the UK to leave the EBU. But, nonetheless, as Tiggeh said, they’re idiots.
Hypothetically if UKIP were to come to power and ban the BBC from entering the UK could still enter since both ITV and Channel 4 are members of the EBU. Anyways, even if they did get elected I highly doubt they could just tell the BBC what they can and can’t do because that would be a dictatorship would it not?
the UKIP are idiots and will never be elected as a major political force.