Another Tory MP defects to UKIP. "People feel ignored, taken for granted, over taxed, over regulated, ripped off, and lied to."-BBC

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"Conservative leadership" is "part of the problem that is holding our country back".
 
9/27/14, "Mark Reckless defects to UKIP from Tories," BBC

"Tory MP Mark Reckless has said he is leaving his party to join UKIP, announcing his decision on the eve of the Conservatives' conference.

The Rochester and Strood MP told the UKIP conference he had resigned as an MP, triggering a by-election.

He said that, as a Tory, he could not keep a promise to "cut immigration while treating people fairly".

He is the second Tory MP to defect to UKIP after Clacton MP Douglas Carswell did the same in August.

Like Mr Carswell, Mr Reckless has stood down as an MP to seek re-election in his constituency for UKIP.

Mr Reckless won his seat as a Conservative in 2010 with a majority of 9,953 votes over Labour's Teresa Murray. 

'Ripped off'

Appearing on stage at the UKIP conference in Doncaster to a rapturous reception, Mr Reckless said: "Today I am leaving the Conservative party and joining UKIP."

He said he had not taken the decision lightly.

Mr Reckless said the Conservative leadership was "part of the problem that is holding our country back".

Criticising the three main parties, he said: "People feel 

ignored, 
taken for granted, 
over-taxed, 
over-regulated, 
ripped off and 
lied to."

On immigration, Mr Reckless said constituents needed to believe that the UK had control over who comes into the country, adding: "At the moment we do not have any sense of that." He said: "Does anyone left or right genuinely support an immigration system where we turn away the best and brightest from our Commonwealth, people with links and family here in order to make room for unskilled immigration from southern and eastern Europe.

"I promise to cut immigration while treating people fairly and humanely. 

"I cannot keep that promise as a Conservative. I can keep it as UKIP."

UKIP's prospective parliamentary candidate for Rochester and Strood Mark Hanson, meanwhile, said he had been unaware of the plans to install Mr Reckless in the seat, adding he would now "stand aside".

A Conservative party spokesman said: "Mark Reckless's decision to join UKIP is completely illogical. He says he wants action on a European referendum, tax and immigration. 

"The only party capable of delivering on these issues is the Conservative party - and a vote for UKIP is a vote for Ed Miliband."

'Nightmare scenario'
 
Labour's shadow minister for the cabinet office, Michael Dugher, meanwhile, said: "This is a hammer blow to David Cameron's already weakened authority. 

"On the eve of his conference we again see that Conservatives' confidence in Cameron is plummeting. David Cameron has always pandered to his right, and even they are now deserting him."

Mr Carswell, who defected from the Tories to UKIP in August, said he was delighted Mr Reckless had joined UKIP, saying he had "done the honourable thing" in letting his electorate decide.

Mr Carswell will himself stand against seven other candidates for the Clacton seat in a by-election on 9 October.

BBC political correspondent Robin Brant said it was a "nightmare scenario for the Conservative party", a scene that 

the Conservative leadership "hoped they would never see"."




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