Quite apart from the smell of sour grapes wafting from John Stocks' letter (Your Letters, November 5), it illustrates exactly what is wrong with present Conservative thinking.

To be frank, it's insular, poorly thought out and detached from reality.

The UK Independence Party was very successful in this June's European Union election, because we had a clear message. Here, in Malvern Hills, we won 23 per cent of the vote, and pushed the Lib Dems into third place.

However, this left UKIP short of funds, so we decided not to contest the recent Parliamentary by-elections in Hodge Hill or Leicester South. These seats were once held by the Conservatives, who only achieved third place this time.

So, you see, Mr Stocks, the Conservatives don't need any help from UKIP; they can manage to lose all on their own, even when we give them a clear run.

The truth is that the Conservatives can't go anywhere, because new Labour have stolen their clothes. Instead they are thrashing about, to left and right, dusting off a mish-mash of insipid compromise policies, to try and keep both wings of their party together. Even with the public's distrust of New Labour's spin, lies and incompetence, the Conservatives remain where they have been in the polls for the last five years.

In any case, there is now hardly any difference between the views of the three main parities, particularly on the EU. They all copy one another, in producing the same set of tired, failed policy re-treads. This is why so many people are disillusioned with the whole political scene and millions of people just don't vote.

Yet, when a new party emerges, to give the British people a genuine choice, the old parties react predictably. They really don't like it when someone new comes along and wants to join what they see as their exclusive private club.

The greatest hurdle UKIP needs to overcome is apathy. We must connect with all those people who have switched off from the boredom of three-party politics. We should not let our country's destiny be decided by a small clique of professional politicians, who want us to concentrate on domestic issues, like health and education, in order to obscure the bigger picture.

If we continue along the path of further EU integration, these domestic issues will also be decided in Brussels, as our national democracy disappears. It's not a 'single issue', it's all embracing!

The next General Election may be the last opportunity we get to prevent integration, particularly if we are then foolish enough to vote for the EU Constitution. So, I urge people to come out and vote, but please find out the facts and then vote for what you really believe in.

Richard Spencer, Court Road, Malvern,