“Mass immigration will continue. They won’t even have a conversation about the EU. For all of those reasons I shall use the next days to say that if you are a Labour voter who cares about Ukip issues, you cannot put this man in Number 10.
Mr Farage says that on some housing estates Labour supporters are describing Ukip as the “new Labour Party”. He says: “These people would never dream of voting Conservative but they will consider voting Ukip.”
Mr Farage also denies that the party has abandoned hope of winning dozens of seats, after a party strategist was quoted last week as saying “something extraordinary” would now need to happen for it to win more than 10 seats in places outside its target list. He says: “We are trying hard in several dozen seats and I still think we will win more than a handful. But a lot will depend on what happens and where the debate goes and if it comes back to big issues or continues to be as trivial as much as it has been.”
Among its target seats is South Thanet, where Mr Farage is standing.
Earlier this month it was reported that a secret poll, allegedly commissioned by Ukip, showed Mr Farage was on course to lose the seat to his Conservative rival and could even come last behind Labour.
Today Mr Farage claims he is still confident of winning the seat, overturning the Conservative Party’s 7,600 majority.
“It is a very nasty, abusive campaign,” he says. “The Conservatives are chucking massive resources at it. It is a big battleground but I am confident.
“If this goes the right way, I think that by 2020 we are going to be a very serious player indeed.”