Editorial: Jumping ship

The general election in Britain is just a few months away but a Conservative Member of Parliament decides to resign and join the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP).  Not only has Douglas Carswell delivered an early victory for UKIP he has also kicked his own party where it hurts. Europe will be a big issue in the British general election next year and Carswell has already clouded the waters claiming that Prime Minister David Cameron wants Britain to remain in the European Union. He admits that he likes Cameron but he has certainly done him a great disservice. He could have waited until the general election and then stood down. But no, UKIP wanted to land the early blow and Carswell obliged. So now the Conservatives will have to fight a by-election against one of their own. I think the electorate deserve better. You can´t stand for one party and then jump ship half way through. In fact  I believe that there should be legislation in place which does not allow this to happen. So now the people of Essex in Carswell´s constituency will be told that everything that has been said before about the Conservative Party  is wide off the mark and now UKIP is  his party. Does this really serve democracy? Of course not, it just shows that members of Parliament can easily be  persuaded to support a different perspective. I sincerely hope that the people of Essex show their disgust at this state of affairs in the by-election.