Britannia Radio

Wednesday, 24th June 2009

UKIP General Secretary Jonathan Arnott has hailed UKIP's best-ever opinion poll rating as an 'enormous success' and evidence that UKIP are now drawing support from Labour and Liberal Democrat voters as well as Conservatives.

Mr Arnott was speaking after the details of a Harris poll for the Metro newspaper were released, showing that UKIP would take 10% of the vote if a general election were held tomorrow.  Politicians across the political spectrum argued that UKIP's amazing result in the European elections was a one-off, but the party's poll ratings continue to rise.

Mr Arnott said "This just confirms what we've been saying all along - over the last couple of months, there has been a real change in the way voters look at UKIP. 

"Years ago, we led the way in kicking out any UKIP MEP who treated the electorate with contempt over expenses, and now the other parties are paying the price. 

"We're no longer seen as just a party of ex-Conservatives - we're taking support from everywhere.  These figures show that 8% of people who supported Labour and the Liberal Democrats are now saying they will vote UKIP at the next general election.

"With a general election coming up, it's not just our policy of withdrawing from the EU that is going down well on the doorstep.  Our 'flat tax' policy of raising the threshold so that no-one pays tax on minimum wage is especially popular with traditional Labour voters."

UKIP's next electoral test is the Norwich North by-election and the party has high hopes of a successful result.

Full details of the latest poll can be found here.