The UK Independence Party is making "steady progress", despite seeing only limited gains in the local council elections, party leader Nigel Farage said today.
Mr Farage said they had seen their share of the vote rise across the country, even though it had failed to translate into a big increase in their tally of council seats.
"Our share of the vote is going up and up and up, very steadily, very surely," he told BBC News.
"Yes, we are getting Conservatives voting for us but it is not just Conservatives because those results are the same in Labour seats as they are in Tory seats.
"We haven't quite got to the level where we are bursting through and winning seats in very large numbers. If we continue this momentum, then next year and the year after we will start to win council seats in real numbers."
He said that Ukip's appeal was not simply confined to European issues.
"We are talking about immigration, the fact that we still have a total open door to the whole of eastern Europe. We are talking about green taxes and the damage it is doing to British industry. We are talking about the need for selective education. There is a whole raft of policies here," he said.
"For the Tories to attempt to eat into our vote it will mean Mr Cameron changing its entire manifesto."