‘No prospect’ of Ukip pact with Tories while Cameron is leader

The MEP told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show that there was no prospect of doing a deal with the Prime Minister who “whenever asked abused party members as nutters and closet racists”.

And he said he didn’t believe promises of a referendum on Europe expected in the long-awaited speech on Britain’s relations with the EU, adding: “Frankly I don’t trust him.”

Although Ukip still has no MPs, recent polls suggest the party is gaining record support of between seven and 16 per cent of the vote as a result of its hard-line stance on Europe.

Mr Farage said that unlike David Cameron, Labour and the Lib Dems recognised a large number of people shared Ukip’s views: “I think with David Cameron as leader that is virtually impossible to even contemplate.

“It’s very interesting, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg, they don’t agree with what Ukip stands for but they recognise that we have a sensible point of view that is held by a large number of people in this country.

“Mr Cameron, whenever he’s asked about Ukip, just throws abuse at us and calls us nutters and closet racists, so I don’t think there’s any prospect of us doing a deal with the Conservative Party with Mr Cameron in charge.”

On the chances of local deals on a national level with certain Tory candidates, he said: “It may happen but it’s not my priority.”

Extracts from the speech Mr Cameron was forced to postpone because of the Algerian hostage crisis showed he intended to make clear that he wanted the UK to play a “committed and active” part in the EU in future.

But Mr Cameron was also planning to warn that, if changes are not made to address the three key challenges of eurozone crisis, economic competitiveness and dramatically declining public support, “the danger is that Europe will fail and the British people will drift towards the exit”.

The extracts, released by Downing Street, do not reveal whether the Prime Minister intended to commit himself to an in/out referendum on British membership of the EU following the renegotiation of its terms which he has already said he plans to undertake after the 2015 general election.

Mr Farage said the fact that the PM was making a speech on Europe – subject matter considered “completely beyond the pale” a decade ago – was a tribute to the thousands of people who had established Ukip.

He said the central argument remained over whether Britain wanted to govern itself or be prepared to accept that “nearly all of our law comes from somewhere else over which we only have a tiny say”.

He said: “The question is do you wish to govern your own country through the ballot box in a democracy or become a province of a new united states of Europe.”

Mr Farage estimated that 40 per cent of Britain’s trade went to European countries and it declined every year, adding there was “no prospect” of German car manufacturers not wishing to sell their cars to Britain because it was not part of a political union.

He added that there was uncertainty in staying in the EU due to possible future legislation over financial services and the environment.

He said: “What Mr Cameron ought to do is say right we’re going to have a full, free and fair referendum on this before the next general election.”

Mr Farage said the expected contents of the speech didn’t stack up: “What this speech apparently is going to offer us, is the idea that if he wins the next general election which looks doubtful, after a renegotiation which I don’t believe to be possible because the other member states of Europe aren’t in the mood, then in five years time he’ll give us a referendum and the trouble is we’ve heard this all before from Mr Cameron and frankly I don’t trust him.”

Mr Farage brushed aside the racism and homophobic slurs against Ukip, saying his was a party that believed in free speech, and on members’ forums “sometime people go ridiculously over the top”.

He added: “If people go beyond the pale we do throw them out and in fact over the last few years lots of people have been removed from Ukip.”