Wind Giving Power To Thanet's Purple Vote

Just a short boat trip from the north Kent coast sits one of the world's largest wind farm.

The holy green grail to some but an inefficient blight to others.

Visible from Thanet South, the seat Nigel Farage hopes to win in 11 days, the 100 giant turbines generate enough electricity to power 200,000 homes.

But for Nigel Farage the business of wind generates something else, political support for UKIP.

Speaking to Sky News, the UKIP leader said: "If wind energy worked, if it produced reliable electricity, if it didn’t need to be subsided, if the poor were not subsiding the rich to make it work, I’d be all for it.

"I would even accept how ugly they are, but it does not work and is one of the greatest follies I’ve ever seen."

So UKIP are tying the issue not just to mimbyism but corporate greed and EU subsidies, while managing to attract support from Tory climate change sceptics.

Tim Montgomerie from The Times said: "A lot of UKIP voters prefer that we still were in the 1950s without too much housing, without too many wind farms and the whole issue of climate change and the environment issue absolutely feeds into Nigel Farage's narrative."

But the wind industry is booming, helping the UK towards it's 15% renewable target by 2020.

David Jackson from Estuary Energy said: "You always need a balance, you're always going to need hydro, off-shore wind, tidal, some nuclear, some gas but onshore wind is the most economically viable way of generating renewable energy.

"And the UK has a lot of it."