NIGEL FARAGE'S anti-EU UK Independence Party (Ukip) is on course to get the largest number of votes in the 2014 European elections, according to a new poll.
The Comres survey of 2000 adults across Britain, undertaken last week, showed that, among those certain to vote in next year's elections, 27% said they would support Ukip, 23% Labour and 21% the Conservatives.
Worryingly for David Cameron, 39% of those who voted Tory in 2010 said they would back Ukip if the European elections were held tomorrow.
In better news for the Prime Minister, 47% said they would vote to stay in the EU if he succeeded in repatriating powers to Britain while 32% said they would, in these circumstances, still vote to leave.
There was no immediate survey breakdown for Scotland, England and Wales, but Ukip has polled poorly north of the Border.
Two weeks ago, Mr Farage was confronted by protests in Edinburgh as he attended a strategy meeting. He blamed "racist" and "anti-English" independence supporters for disrupting a party event in Edinburgh.
At one point, the party leader had to be locked in the Canons' Gait bar for his own safety before he was rescued by a police riot van.
Responding to the events, Alex Salmond dismissed Mr Farage's comments, saying they showed it would be a mistake to take "somebody of that mentality with any degree of seriousness".
The Comres poll, commissioned by the Open Europe think-tank, which campaigns for a new model of European co-operation, showed that in a general election Labour would take 37% of the votes, an 11-point lead over the Conservatives on 26%, with Ukip on 20% and the LibDems trailing on 9%.
However, there was widespread support for Mr Cameron's policy of renegotiating the UK's relationship with Brussels before putting the new settlement to a referendum by the end of 2017.
If a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU were held today then 37% said they would vote to remain in the EU compared to 41% who said they would vote to leave.
Yet if the PM were successful in his negotiations and there was a repatriation of powers to Britain followed by a referendum, then 47% would vote to stay in the EU and 32% would vote to leave.
Indeed, Mr Cameron was rated as the party leader most likely to succeed in negotiating a better deal.
Some 29% said they backed him to win back powers, 14% supported Ed Miliband, 12% Mr Farage and just 4% Nick Clegg.
Mats Persson, Open Europe's Director, said: "While the Conservatives may be heading for a perfect storm in the EU elections, their overarching goal of a renegotiated position for the UK in the EU still enjoys substantial support from across the political spectrum."
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