Liberal Democrats warn of BluKip alliance as Ukip’s manifesto dominates Twitter chat
Ukip was yet again the most talked about party on Twitter following the launch of the party’s manifesto on Wednesday, according to Tata Consultancy Services’ ElectUK general election data tracking tool.
Today (15 April), both Ukip and the Liberal Democrats launched their general election 2015 manifestos, with the anti-Europe taking most of the attention.
For 24 hours after the launch, ElectUK noted that Ukip took 47.4 per cent of all general election mentions, putting the party in the public eye before the BBC’s opposition party debate this evening, hosted by David Dimbleby.
Ukip’s engagement dwarfed the Liberal Democrat’s 11.8 per cent, undermining the Lib Dem’s manifesto. Labour took 17.7 per cent of mentions, the SNP 8.7 per cent and the Conservatives 6.6 per cent.
On the other hand, David Cameron remained the most discussed politician with 11.6 per cent of mentions.
Following him was Nigel Farage with 9.1 per cent and Nick Clegg with 8.8 per cent.
Although Ukip received the most mentions, only 27.3 per cent of sentiment was positive, a quarter negative and almost half neutral. In contrast, the Lib Dems received 32.9 per cent positive mentions, compared to 20.9 per cent negative.
Nick Clegg's party acknowledging the Ukip threat on Wednesday launched the BluKip website, warning of a coalition between the Conservatives and Ukip in the next parliament.
The site heralded the return of the death penalty.
And warned of the impact of such a partnership upon the UK.
“The Tories, Ukip and the DUP have all come together to form BluKip! It's a historic alliance in British politics, the first time that three parties have come together, to govern together.
“As our parties have worked together it has become increasingly clear to us that, although there are differences, there is also a huge amount of common ground.”
For a greater look into the general election spin machine, check out The Drum's Election Beat podcast, analysing who is winning the battle for number 10 on the marketing front so far.