Vote Ukip and see your house price fall, Tories claim in Rochester

It sounds like a Daily Mail headline generator quote, but having a Ukip MP will make house prices fall in your area, according to the Tories anyway.

Ukip defector Mark Reckless (pictured, above) is on the brink of inflicting a second damaging by-election defeat on the Conservative Party in Rochester and Strood on Thursday.

According to the Daily Telegraph, while campaigning in Rochester this week, Charles Walker, Tory MP for Broxbourne, told voters: "The danger is if you vote Ukip, the value of your house will go down."

After the British National Party won council seats in Barking and Dagenham in 2006 house prices were seen to fall, while in neighbouring areas they went up.

Kelly Tolhurst, the Tory election candidate in Rochester, later said about the house price claim: "I have actually heard a few people say that to me but I'm not getting into that.

"A lot of people have said 'We are going to vote for you because we do not want a Ukip MP'. The people of Rochester and Strood are good people, balanced people and we care about our area."

Part of the Tory election campaign is centred on the fact their candidate is a 36-year-old local businesswoman as opposed to the former MP Mr Reckless, who was born elsewhere and went to Oxford University before treading what is seen as a typical Westminster career path as a consultant and political researcher.

Ukip said the house price claim was "absurd" and a sign of "desperation".

Mr Reckless, hoping to become Ukip's second elected MP after Douglas Carswell, added: "I hope that all the attention in Rochester we’ve had will support house prices."

(Pictures: Getty)

More: [Ukip has more men called Dave or Steve than it has women]2