The UK Independence Party could hold the balance of power in the House of Commons after the British general election next May, its leader, Nigel Farage, has told supporters.
Up to now, Ukip has been seen as the biggest threat to the Conservatives, but it believes it now poses as big a challenge to Labour.
The party, signalling its mounting confidence, brought almost 2,000 members to Doncaster racecourse for its annual conference, right next door to Labour leader, Ed Miliband’s constituency.
Ukip, which has still to take a Commons seat, has high hopes it will win next month's byelection in Essex, along with challenging Labour outside Rochdale.
Make no mistake, Ukip is “now parking its tanks on Labour’s lawn”, said Mr Farage. Later, however, he was cautious about Ukip’s hopes of taking the Heywood and Middleton seat left vacant by the death of Labour’s Jim Dobbins.
The Labour organisation there had “woken up late” to the Ukip threat and was now “scaring” its supporters in a bid to get them out campaigning, he said. “I may be wrong, but I think it is too soon for us.”
Wasted votes
Nevertheless, he insisted Ukip would take seats from Labour and the Conservatives next May, and told voters not to heed warnings that a Ukip vote was a wasted vote.
“If you vote Ukip, you will get Ukip,” he said. “We can even say: ‘Vote Ukip and we will hold the balance of power.’ Then we are only a referendum away from a culture change in politics.”
Significantly, Ukip has decided to target the concerns of north of England white working class communities about the sexual grooming of vulnerable white girls by Asian gangs.
Grooming was allowed to grow in towns such as Rochdale, Rotherham and Bradford because Labour had long run “a one-party state”, and did not face competition from other parties, Mr Farage said.
Police, politicians and social services were scared of tackling Asians gangs because they feared being accused of racism.
Concerns are already high in Heywood and Middleton following a trial in 2012 that saw an Asian gang jailed for grooming 50 children in Rochdale.
Tensions have been raised significantly across the north of England following the disclosure that 1,400 girls, mostly white, had been abused over decades in Rotherham.
Ukip has already begun to put flesh on the party’s general election manifesto next year and will focus on key themes such as immigration.
MEP Patrick O’Flynn proposed a new 35 per cent tax rate for those earning £42,000- £55,000 (€53,500- €70,500); an increased tax allowance to encourage people to quit benefits, along with a 15 per cent super VAT rate on luxury goods.
Though far from polished, Ukip’s policies are populist, and are not easily categorised as left or right because such labels no longer represent the political map, the party says.
The party wants to see a personal tax allowance equal to the full-time minimum wage, followed ultimately by a 20 per cent standard tax rate, a 30 per cent intermediate rate and a top rate of 40 per cent.
