Farage: My pact offer to the Tories

Ukip leader sets out deal to prop up Consevatives, and names his price... an EU referendum this year

NIGEL FARAGE today discloses his radical plans for the UK Independence Party to support a minority Conservative government after the next election.

The Ukip leader says that he is willing to do a deal with the Tories on condition that they hold a European Union referendum before Christmas.

The detailed plans for a hung parliament set out that Ukip and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) would work together to support the Conservatives on a vote-by-vote basis, as opposed to a formal coalition.

Ukip – forecast to gain as many as six seats in the election – would vote for the Conservatives’ first Budget, which would be the initial test of this new Right-of-centre alliance.

Until now Mr Cameron has said only that he will hold a referendum – in which he would campaign to stay in a reformed EU – by the end of 2017. But just as the latest polls suggest that neither Labour nor the Tories will have sufficient MPs in the House of Commons to form a Government, Mr Farage has demanded that the vote is held by the end of this year.

He says: “The terms of my deal with the Tories would be very precise and simple. I want a full and fair referendum to be held in 2015 to allow Britain to vote on being in or out of the EU. There would be no wiggle room for ‘renegotiation’ somewhere down the line.”

Mr Farage insists that he does not want a formal coalition with the Tories, because his voters would consider that to be selling out. He also says he could not sit with the “ghastly” Tories in Cabinet. The price for his support is set out in The Purple Revolution, his new book, which is being serialised in The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.

In it he also reveals that he considers Michael Gove, the Conservative Chief Whip, as a close friend and a man he could work with. Mr Gove is said to be a Eurosceptic and the disclosure will prompt speculation that he will campaign for an EU exit in a referendum.

The four criteria on the referendum, to which Mr Cameron would have to agree, would govern the timing of the plebiscite, the wording of the question, who would be eligible to cast a vote and media coverage. Mr Farage suggests that “given that it only takes a few weeks to launch and organise a referendum, it should be held in 2015”.

This is despite the fact that in an interview last week, Mr Cameron said a referendum before the end of 2017 was unlikely “because there are quite a lot of moving parts”.

Mr Farage suggests that “Do you wish to be a free, independent sovereign democracy?” would be a good starting point for the referendum question. Under his plans the four million EU nationals living in Britain on foreign passports – including his German wife Kirsten – should not be allowed to vote.

And an ombudsman should be appointed to police strict campaign spending limits and to ensure coverage of the referendum is balanced, “even though the BBC will hate it”, he says.

Mr Farage says that “if David Cameron agrees to these terms… there is no question that Ukip would not do a deal”. He says he believes he can set out his stall because the electoral results will allow the Conservatives, Ukip and the DUP to agree a “confidence and supply” arrangement. The parties would need to have enough seats between them to make a majority, giving them the ability to pass legislation in the Commons.

He says: “Depending on how many seats Ukip gets, I could see the Tories, Ukip and the DUP doing some kind of deal.”

The DUP, which presently holds eight seats, has also said that an EU referendum would be a key part of its price for support. The party also ruled out joining a formal coalition.

Labour cannot win the election because the party has haemorrhaged support in Scotland and the north of England, Mr Farage argues. “I think that the Tories will be the biggest party when we wake up on Friday, May 8,” he says, but, he adds, without a clear majority.

“The arithmetic says that they will need the support of two other

parties to get the numbers up and ensure, for example, that they can get their Budget through. That is why I see a Tory/Ukip/DUP threeway deal as a possible scenario.”

Faced with a choice between another coalition with the Liberal Democrats, or a looser alliance with Ukip and the DUP, Mr Farage says Mr Cameron – who would have to agree any deal with his MPs – would opt for the latter.

He adds: “The last 18 months have changed my life: from the back operation that saved me from becoming disabled, to winning the EU elections in May 2014 and then victory in two by-elections. This is our time.” In extracts published yesterday, Mr Farage, 50, disclosed how a plane and car crash, combined with “incompetent” treatment on the NHS had left him with the body of a 70-year-old man.

In the Telegraph today, he speaks fondly of his early career as a metals trader in the City, admitting he once lost a seven-figure sum in a morning – before compliance departments “took the fun out of trading”. He adds: “I miss what [the City] used to be.” Don’t miss The Daily Telegraph tomorrow where Mr Farage will disclose the biggest gamble of his life – an all-or-nothing bet that could mean the end of his remarkable political career.