The UK Independence Party (UKIP) has lost its majority on Thanet Council, the first and only local authority to be controlled by the party and the region where leader Nigel Farage made his unsuccessful bid for MP in the general election.
Councilor Jeff Elenor quit UKIP on Tuesday to join four other defectors in a newly-formed party, the Democratic Independent Group.
The five UKIP councilors left the party over the direction council leader Chris Well had taken on the mothballed Manston Airport. UKIP made much of its pledge to reopen the airport during its May election campaign.
Former Green Councilor Ian Driver told RT that disagreements over Manston Airport could spell the end of UKIP’s control of Thanet Council.
The local split mirrors ongoing rows within UKIP’s national ranks, where Nigel Farage has clashed with the party’s only MP Douglas Carswell over which campaign to back for Britain to leave the EU.
Via RT.