UKIP surge: Farage against the machine

The Eurosceptic party, which took around a quarter of the votes in the recent county council elections, said it now had 1,999 members in the West Midlands compared with 1,457 at the end of 2012.

The Tories have been licking their wounds since May 3 and trying to revive support ahead of the European elections next year and the 2015 General Election.

Steve Crowther, chairman of Ukip, told the Express & Star that membership had gone up steadily over the past 15 months.

He said: "People have realised we are not cranks who don't like Europe, we've been warning them of impending catastrophe. We're not against immigration. But the nature of the free movement of labour across Europe is something that cannot be planned for or controlled."

He added that people had been impressed by party leader Nigel Farage. "Nigel's down to earth and says what he thinks. People find that refreshing", Mr Crowther said.

The loss of hundreds of county councillors across the country is seen by many as a wake-up call to David Cameron that he needs to take not just the Labour party seriously, but the UK Independence Party as well.

Heavy hitters such as Thatcher-era chancellor Nigel Lawson this week made the case for leaving the European Union, meaning the matter will be significant in the run up to 2015.

But just as the Tories have had to consider the threat from Ukip so, too, have Labour. In South Staffordshire – a Tory heartland – Ukip came second almost everywhere they were standing, pushing Labour into third.

The district's Conservative MP Gavin Williamson would not even utter the Eurosceptic party's name when asked what he thought the Tories needed to do now.

"We have to deal with the legitimate concerns that people have right across the political spectrum", he said.

"I have long been of the view that people want to see us continue to sort out the economy and tackle the issue of immigration. These are the concerns that people are raising with us on the doorsteps."

Stafford MP Jeremy Lefroy, who had to watch as Labour took three seats off the Tories in the county council elections with Ukip in second place in five wards, wants David Cameron to bring forward legislation to cement the promise of a referendum on the European Union.

The promise is only valid if the Tories win a majority at the next election.

Mr Lefroy said: "Now would be a good time to have it established that there will be a referendum in 2017. The difficulty will be getting it through Parliament because the Conservative party does not have a majority and the Liberal Democrats and Labour have shown no desire to give people a referendum."

Labour is using its recent gains to show it is regaining support in target seats like Cannock Chase, where the party suffered the biggest swing to the Tories in 2010.

The party took four county council seats from the Tories and one from the Liberal Democrats last week. Tory MP Aidan Burley said: "Ukip took a huge number of votes off us and Labour won seats. The lesson for the next two years for the Conservatives is to make sure Labour doesn't sneak in the back door."

West Bromwich East MP Tom Watson, Labour's deputy chairman, is not dismissive of Ukip but does not appear threatened either. "Ukip did not win a single seat off Labour", he says. "We won some seats off Ukip. We have more councillors than we've had since the start of the Iraq war.

"We're making gains in places like Cannock and Stafford. The central challenge is that people have lost confidence in the political system.

"Ukip offered simple solutions to people who are suffering in an age of austerity and they've earned their right to be treated as a credible party.

"But it was disappointing that the media only looked at Ukip in terms of its inappropriate candidates and squandered the opportunity to challenge its policies, such as its flat tax rate and how it would give bigger breaks to millionaires than even the Tories. Ukip are kind of turbo-charged Tories and are trying to pull the Conservative party to the right."

Ukip denies it is to the right of the Conservatives and while there is talk of an electoral pact, the idea of a merger is off the table. Its West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass said: "We're calling for the M6 Toll to be nationalised. How right wing is that?

"We're not going to merge with the Conservatives. There would be members who would say it could only happen over their dead bodies. But we would do a deal with anyone who would get us out of the European Union."