Ukip Open To Coalition With Labour Or Conservatives

Ukip Open To Coalition With Labour Or Conservatives
The Huffington Post UK/PA | Posted: 17/02/2014 18:21 GMT | Updated: 17/02/2014 18:59 GMT

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/02/17/ukip-coalition-farage_n_4803773.html

UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage has said he would be ready to enter coalition with either Conservatives or Labour after the general election if it guaranteed a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.

Mr Farage was speaking after a YouGov poll for LBC radio suggested Conservative supporters would be ready to back a Tory-Ukip coalition if next year's elections end in a hung Parliament.

Nigel Farage looks forward to a possible coalition role for Ukip
Asked which party Ukip should form a coalition with if it held the balance of power, 76% of Tory voters said the Conservatives, compared with 48% of Labour supporters and 40% of Liberal Democrats who said Mr Farage should seek a deal with their parties.

Among Ukip voters, 40% said the eurosceptic party should go into coalition with Tories, against 12% who would prefer a pact with Labour, 8% with the Lib Dems and 35% who said Mr Farage should reject any coalition deal.

Mr Farage told LBC: "If we get to a position where Ukip is able, because it's got the numbers, to get the people of this country a referendum, we would do a deal - not just with the Conservatives, we'd do one with Labour if it came to that - if it meant we'd get that vote."

Commenting on the survey findings that Tory voters are keener than supporters of other parties to see a coalition deal with Ukip, Mr Farage said: "What this poll shows you is that Conservative voters don't particularly like the deal with the Lib Dems, which is hardly surprising.

"I think what it also tells us is that Conservative voters are recognising in big numbers that their party is not going to win a majority at the next election. That's why the figure is as high as it is. That's why it's a much, much higher figure than anything we've seen over the course of the last 12 months.

"Most Conservative voters are closer to what Ukip stands for than what Mr Cameron stands for and that essentially has been a major problem for him."

Mr Farage's comments came Nick Clegg fuelled speculation that he is positioning the LibDems for coalition with Labour next year.

However, Mr Clegg's overtures brought short shrift from the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, who indicated he's not interested in the pairing, stating: "What I'm looking for is a majority Labour government."

Hinting at his desire for a deal with Labour, the Deputy Prime Minister also criticised the Tories for lurching to the right, accusing his current partners in government of becoming "much more ideological" since 2010.