Poll: Ukip could win a third of voters in 2015
The good times keep on rolling for Nigel Farage's Eurosceptic party, with a new Opinium/Observer poll showing 31 per cent of voters would be willing to back Ukip if they thought they had a decent chance of winning in their constituency.
Of those willing to consider ticking the purple box on polling day 25 per cent were Liberal Democrats, 33 per cent were Conservatives, and 18 per cent were Labour.
Voters were split on whether Ukip represented a wasted vote, with 40 per cent agreeing and 37 per cent disagreeing.
Ukip also polled 18 per cent of the national vote while the Lib Dems and the Greens languished on six and four per cent respectively.
The results make next year's general election even more unpredictable with Britain entering an era of multiparty politics, with Ukip surging in England and the SNP rising in Scotland.
The results come with a little over three weeks until the Rochester and Stood by-election forced by the defection of Tory MP Mark Reckless. The seat is being fought tooth and nail with the Tories dispatching activists, cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister himself to try and hang on to the seat.
The situation on the ground does not look good for the Conservatives, with a recent ComRes Survey giving Ukip and 13-point lead.
The timing of Ukip's latest positive poll couldn't be better for Nigel Farage after the EU handed Britain an unexpected bill of €2.1bn on Friday to howls of outrage from the public and politicians alike.
Veteran Tory Eurosceptic John Redwood told Radio 4's Today programme:
[The charge] offends all our principles of natural justice and fair taxation.
It is a very large increase in tax on the British people, charged retrospectively without their agreement
However, there was also good news for the Tories national ratings, jumping five points from a fortnight ago to be neck and neck with Labour at 33 per cent.