Conservatives will need to team up with Ukip to win election, says Farage
The Conservatives will need to team up with Ukip and offer a referendum on Europe if they want to win the next election, Nigel Farage has said.
UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage Photo: PA
9:26AM BST 21 Sep 2012
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Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, suggested he could stop his candidates running as MPs against some Conservatives if David Cameron promised a poll on whether Britain stays in the EU.
He said he was open to doing a deal with any party but would need a promise "written in blood" as Mr Cameron previously broke his word on having a referendum on Europe.
Speaking ahead of the party's annual conference, Mr Farage said he would also want to negotiate representation for Ukip in Parliament.
"I have not offered a deal at all," he said. "The Tory Party (may) look at the polls and say we have got to do a deal with UKIP. If we were offered a deal, of course we would look at it, but I would not even consider doing a deal unless it was written in blood that there would be a referendum on Europe."
Mr Farage said doing a deal would not be easy as Mr Cameron is too pro-Europe but he would be willing to consider it.
"If the Conservative Party or the Labour Party came and offered a sensible deal in the national interest, then I would listen."
The Conservative Party is worried that some of its traditional voters could defect to Ukip, who are currently fourth in the polls on around seven per cent of the vote.
Peter Kellner, president of the pollster YouGov, said Ukip might not win a single seat but it could still be dangerous to the Conservatives.
"This is what really worries the Tories - not that they'll win seats but that they'll siphon off three or four thousand Tory votes in marginal seats and that willl mean Labour will win more seats and the Liberal Democrats will win more seats, unless they do a deal," he said.
"Ukip as I understand it are saying if you commit yourself, you Tories, to an in-out referendum on the EU, we'll stand aside. If the Tories offer it I think Labour and the Liberal Democrats will offer it."
Ukip is expected to do better in the European elections of 2014, where it could even take the highest number of MEPs as the vote is calculated by proportional representation.
Mr Farage is already a member of the European parliament. Last week, the MEP was fined about £2,400 for telling the EU president he has the "charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a bank clerk".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/9557328/Conservatives-will-need-to-team-up-with-Ukip-to-win-election-says-Farage.html
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