Britain’s anti-Europe UK Independence Party saw its ratings surge to 14 percent in an opinion poll to be released Sunday as the ruling coalition wrestles with its position on debt-hit Europe.
The party gained six percentage points from last month in the ComRes poll, placing it ahead of the Liberal Democrats, junior partners in the ruling coalition, who scored nine percent.
Senior coalition partners the Conservatives were on 28 percent, down three points from a month ago, while the opposition Labour party won 39 percent in the poll for the Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror newspapers.
Even though it has no seats in the House of Commons, UKIP has proved a headache for Prime Minister David Cameron in recent months as his Conservatives struggle for support amid biting austerity measures and the eurozone crisis.
Some senior Conservatives, whose party is also deeply Eurosceptic, have said UKIP pose an electoral threat and suggested a pact with them at the next general election in 2015.
Cameron says he wants to repatriate some powers from Europe, but has avoided offering a clear “in-out” referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union, despite pressure from elements of his party.
UKIP campaigns for Britain’s exit from the European Union and a freeze on immigration into the country.
It came a best-ever second in two by-elections last month, ahead of both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, prompting leader Nigel Farage to claim it was no longer a fringe party but the “third force” in British politics.
ComRes interviewed 2,002 British adults online between December 12 and 14.
Britain's anti-Europe party in poll surge
