I agree. I also do not think that they ever really went away. I hover between UKIP and conservative myself. Mainly because there are still a couple of people I consider to be trust worth.

UKIP were actively asking members to vote conservative during the last election despite risking becoming irrelevant because of doing so. Which I thought was incredibly well principled as it was to stop Jeremy Corbyn and the very real threat that the country was facing from the labour parties leadership. Despite probably the worst election campaign I have seen in my lifetime, which was run by the conservative party at that time.

I do feel for the Prime Minister as the job is a tough one at the best of times but with the weak approach to negotiation with the EU and the often hostile comments from EU leaders and the blatant failure to keep our children safe UKIP are probably gathering momentum if anything. No one seems to be campaiging for them better than government policy (or lack of it when it comes to the issue of child abuse gangs) and our friends on the European Commission. Given their recent surge in membership, an end to UKIP does not seem likely at all.

In fact with the governments fixation on staying in the customs union at any cost and failing to adequately prepare infranstructure for an eventuality which includes an end to it, they seem likely to become more relevant if anything. The only thing holding them back may be the greater concern at Corbyn which is splitting loyalties.

I disagree. UKIP members were encouraged to vote conservative at the last election to stop Jeremy Corbyn so the party was never as in trouble as it appeared. Disatisfaction over Brexit not delivering what people wanted is sure to accelerate the recent UKIP surge in membership.

Indeed, did I not see that their membership soared over the last six weeks? Scandals like Telford and the perception that this government are also failing to keep children safe are going to continue to drive more. It seems current policy, the actions and comments from the EU during negotiation is doing much to re energise UKIP and resurrect it out of what appeared to be near collapse though I suspect was really nothing of the sort.

The best lever that the conservative party has to pull is that there are a few people that can speak to those members that find themselves half in the UKIP camp already out of sheer disillusionment. Jacob Rees Mogg speaks to those people as do one or two others. The recent announcement that the leave date is set in stone can only have helped. But the issue of remaining in the customs union could further increase the UKIP revival.

There should be an inquiry into the salaries of council members and better metrics around performance. It may be that people are less sensitive about the most successful council leaders who can genuinely justify a great salary based on performance.

No Council member should be getting paid more than the Prime Minister. Some of the worst incompetence I have ever encountered in personal or professional life has been in councils. Bearing in mind that for most of my career I have specialised in turning around underperforming businesses or divisions. I should think it is far overdue that we had an investigation into council performance and behaviour. Especially in light of the scandals in cities and towns like Rotherham and Telford etc and those like them still to be exposed.

I travel a lot around the Balkans and am in a non EU Balkans country as I write this. EU passports are for sale and they are cheap. For example, over 50% of Macedonians have an EU passport. I see people on every plane coming from several EU cities in the region who are flying specifically to use the NHS health service. Of course the vast spending on the NHS is not enough. We are, for many of the second tier EU countries citizens, health insurance.

For example, when the wife of a person I know very well got pregnant, he flew into the UK to a town where they have friends on one of the last days his wife could fly. I actually reported the issue to the NHS at the time.

Despite the report, naming the people and the hospital, he immediately booked an appointment for his wife at the clinic there under the Bulgarian passport purchased a couple of years before and his wife was able to give birth there. They were asked questions, which they answered and presumably simply lied as they had not been living in the UK. They are now back in Macedonia a few months later. The Bulgarian passport cost them around 1000 Euros in total. They have no links at all with Bulgaria but like most here, the Bulgarians will sell the passports cheap to increase the numbers of people with a Bulgarian passport and because the country is riddled with corruption. It is easier for them to hide it with Macedonia and countries which border with them because of the turbulent history in the area.

Some of these people are the same people that came in 10 years ago and ripped off the student loans and bank system en masse then disappeared.

People from the middle east are doing the same though I understand the price is several times more. In one case I know of the Bulgarian lawyer created a fake link with a Bulgarian war hero to speed the process up. My point is that, thanks to corruption in several EU countries, an EU passport is very easy to obtain, nor should it be taken as given that the migration issue is not exactly the same as it often involves the same people. There are also plenty of people travelling under fake identitification or using them to open bank accounts and so on in other names even when arriving under genuine papers.

Most of those I know from the region that obtained a Bulgarian passport used it to go to Britain but some to Germany and Sweden. Britain is popular because they find it easy to appear to be present for five years to get a British passport as well. This opens the door to other illicit opportunity and so on. Some are benefitting from multiple passports in various countries at this point. It is a system well open to abuse and free movement enables much of it by making it almost invisible.