Barroso tips anti-EU Ukip to make gains

The euro-sceptic UK Independence Party could become “the first force” in next year’s European elections, the President of the European Commission said today.

Jose Manuel Barroso said that the increasingly anti-European stance taken by the Conservatives could help Nigel Farage’s Ukip beat them in the May 2014 polls, as voters will “between the original and the copy... prefer the original”.