Ukip's Nigel Farage Insists Tory Alliance 'Impossible'

Ukip's Farage Insists Tory Alliance 'Impossible'

An alliance between the Conservatives and Ukip is "virtually impossible to even contemplate" with David Cameron as Prime Minister, Nigel Farage has said, claiming he doesn't trust the Tory leader.

Farage told BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show, hosted by Jeremy Vine, he did not think there was any prospect of doing a deal with the Conservative Party with Mr Cameron in charge.

He also pooh-poohed the Prime Minister's long-awaited speech on Europe, saying: "What this speech apparently is going to offer us, is the idea that if he wins the next general election which looks doubtful, after a renegotiation which I don't believe to be possible because the other member states of Europe aren't in the mood, then in five years time he'll give us a referendum and the trouble is we've heard this all before from Mr Cameron and frankly I don't trust him.

"What Mr Cameron ought to do is say right we're going to have a full, free and fair referendum on this before the next general election."

Commenting on talk of a possible alliance between the Conservatives and Ukip, he said Cameron "just throws abuse at us and calls us nutters and closet racists, so I don't think there's any prospect of us doing a deal with the Conservative Party with Mr Cameron in charge.

"It's very interesting, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg, they don't agree with what Ukip stands for but they recognise that we have a sensible point of view that is held by a large number of people in this country.

Mr Farage claimed pressure from Ukip and its supporters had contributed to a shift in public attitude towards the Europe Union.

He said: "The first thing to say is that 10 years ago you couldn't even discuss the question of leaving the EU in polite society, it was considered completely beyond the pale to even talk about.

"So the very fact that the Prime Minister is making a speech on this issue is actually a tribute to the thousands of people that have worked and helped get Ukip established as a political party."

He added: "Job done is when firstly we become an independent self-governing nation, and secondly when we start to put into practice the things the British economy needs and the British people need for us to be a proper 21st century country engaged with the world and not just with Europe."

Mr Farage said the central democratic argument remained over whether Britain wishes to govern itself or be prepared to accept that "nearly all of our law comes from somewhere else over which we only have a tiny say".

He said: "The question is do you wish to govern your own country through the ballot box in a democracy or become a province of a new united states of Europe."

Mr Farage estimated that 40% of Britain's trade went to European countries and it declined every year, adding there was "no prospect" of German car manufacturers not wishing to sell their cars to Britain because it was not part of a political union.

He said there was uncertainty in staying in the EU due to possible future legislation over financial services and the environment.

Mr Farage brushed aside the racism and homophobic slurs against Ukip, saying his was a party that believed in free speech, and on members' forums "sometime people go ridiculously over the top".

He said: "If people go beyond the pale we do throw them out and in fact over the last few years lots of people have been removed from Ukip."

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