Independence Party set for breakthrough

Next month's European elections will see a huge breakthrough for the UK Independence Party, according to a new opinion poll today.

A YouGov survey put the party, which wants Britain to withdraw from the EU, ahead of the Liberal Democrats and narrowly behind Labour. UKIP took votes from both the Tories and Labour.

The poll put UKIP on 14 per cent, four points behind the Liberal Democrats who are on 18 per cent. It showed the Conservatives and Labour almost neck and neck, with the Tories on 28 per cent, one point ahead of Labour on 27 per cent.

But the shock finding came among the 39 per cent of voters who said that they were "very likely" to vote in next month's European elections. On this measure, UKIP came out with 18 per cent, three points ahead of the Liberal Democrats on 15 per cent

Among those very likely to vote, the Tories also extended their lead to 31 per cent, eight points ahead of Labour on 23 per cent.

If the poll is right, the anti-EU party could win more than a dozen seats in the 10 June Euro elections, its best ever result. UKIP won only four seats with seven per cent of the vote in the last 1999 Euro elections.