Ex-Labour MP attacks Ukip's "nasty, anti-immigrant, very rightwing" tactics The former Labour MP for Medway has expressed his distress that many of his ex-constituents in Rochester & Strood are set to vote for a "extreme rightwing party" like Ukip, saying the party's policies would put voters" jobs seriously at risk. Bob Marshall-Andrews, who represented the area for 13 years, said he was not a tribal politician and had friends in the Conservatives as well as Labour but he was "profoundly unhappy" that so many people in the Medway towns were likely to vote for Ukip. The byelection in Rochester & Strood was triggered by the defection of Tory MP Mark Reckless to Ukip, which is forecast to get its second MP when voters go to the polls on Thursday. Marshall-Andrews, who was a thorn in the side of Tony Blair over the Iraq war, said the boundaries of the constituency have changed to make it very difficult for Labour to win the seat any more. However, he believes the seat will be re-taken by the Conservatives at the general election regardless of whether Ukip win the byelection as predicted. He told the Guardian: "They have classic extreme rightwing tactics of identifying a minority group and then holding them culpable for everyone's grievances. And people have a lot of grievances, particularly in the Medway towns, where people have had more than their fair share of deprivation. But Ukip are using immigrants of any kind as a target for those grievances. That of course is very un-British. He added: "It makes me profoundly unhappy. I would be very sorry to see my former constituents, in so far as it is not a protest vote, subscribing to this very nasty, anti-immigrant, very rightwing tactic. He also said withdrawal from the European Union would be catastrophic for Rochester & Strood in terms of employment. Economically, the Medway towns are very reliant on international investment and European participation. About 17,000 people commute to the City [of London] every day, which replaced very largely the dockyard that closed 20 years ago ... If the City and financial institutions were to be badly damaged, which they would be by a withdrawal from Europe, then the effect on employment in the Medway towns would be catastrophic. We're saying it, but I don't think people are picking that up. Their jobs would be seriously at risk, not from immigration, but a withdrawal from Europe. Marshall-Andrews, who stood down from his Medway seat in 2010 after beating Reckless in 2005, said he had not been at all surprised that his former Tory opponent had defected to Ukip. I am not particularly tribal. Some of the people I worked most closely with in the Commons, on civil liberties and the Iraq war, were Tories. But there are opponents against whom you have very little affection or sympathy. Reckless was one of them. He is not a pleasant campaigner.