A story from the United Kingdom that shows no matter where you are in the world, debate is to progressives as garlic to a vampire.

The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) describes iteself as a “democratic, libertarian party” in its constitution. In May 2014, UKIP became the first party in over a century other than Labour or the Conservatives to come first in a United Kingdom-wide election.

That it is doing something right can be demonstrated by the fact that a British university has banned a party representative from speaking on campus.

The University of East Anglia Students’ Union has stopped a speaker meeting going ahead tonight on their Norwich campus because UKIP had been invited. The event was organised by the Political Debating Society but a student launched a campaign to prevent UKIP from participating. The University said its Students’ Union had launched an “internal investigation” into whether rules had been breached by the society when they invited UKIP. In a statement sent to Norwich Evening News UEA Students’ Union said: “The review will consider the potential for any decision to limit freedom of speech as per the university’s code of practice in pursuance of the 1986 Education Act; the potential for the event going ahead to cause the union to be in breach of its equal opportunities policy; the potential for the event going ahead to cause the union to fail in its wider legal duties; the potential for the event going ahead to cause reputational risk to the Union; the potential for the speaker’s presence on campus to cause fear or alarm to members of the student body; and the potential for the speakers presence on campus to give rise to breach of peace.” They also pledged to hold a “consultation” into the matter, after which they will decide whether the event should go ahead. The ban on UKIP would mean one of their most well known alumni, Douglas Carswell, would not be allowed to speak. Carswell defected to UKIP and stood down as MP for Clacton forcing a by-election that he won last month. he University of East Anglia Students’ Union has stopped a speaker meeting going ahead tonight on their Norwich campus because UKIP had been invited. The event was organised by the Political Debating Society but a student launched a campaign to prevent UKIP from participating.

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