Eric the comments made were due to responses garnered when speaking with the people I've met over there. They were more than happy to take me round & show me all the derelict housing, shut up shops & run down communities left behind in the wake of the Pit closures (under Thatcher).
The resentment lays a long way back & is passed on through the generations, this I have personally witnessed, they've no love of the Tories roundabouts, as to the UKIP & others if you look at the %'s Ukip only featured in 2010 as a defined recipient now look at their margins, Labour gained 13% & Lib-Dem/Cons lost between them 23ish% so exceeds the make up of Labours gained total. UKIP came on the screen in 2010 with 4.67% but now have 12.2% so it's safe to assume a part of their net gain was due to LD&C's poor showing.
http://www.google.de/url?sa=t&source...gmW8JA&cad=rja