Shadow minister Michael Dugher calls leader Nigel Farage ‘ex-Tory, ex-banker’ as Ukip tries to woo voters away from left

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Labour will on Wednesday launch its first major attack on Ukip for being “more Tory than the Tories” in an attempt to head off Nigel Farage’s efforts to woo former left-wingers in the north.

The party will personally label Farage the “ex-Tory, ex-banker” and rubbish Ukip’s claims to be the party of the working man, as it prepares to descend on Doncaster for its party conference on Friday.

Ukip’s decision to hold its annual gathering in the northern town rather than a southern coastal stronghold is a direct challenge to Ed Miliband on his home turf. Farage is likely to make an appeal to voters who feel Labour’s leadership have taken them for granted, particularly those with grievances about the impact of immigration on their local area.

Labour has long been conflicted about how to deal with the threat of Ukip, with some arguing it should be ignored as the party poses a bigger threat to the Conservatives.

However, senior shadow cabinet sources told the Guardian that the party needs to stop Ukip replicating the success of the SNP with poorer, less well-educated voters in Scotland. The threat might not be huge at this election but the appeal of Ukip could develop gradually over a number of years, one said.

At the same time as Labour prepares to attack the party head-on, Ed Miliband and his shadow ministers have been referring disparagingly to a “Westminster elite” that must get back in touch with public concerns over the last week.

Michael Dugher, the shadow cabinet office minister, said that on key issues – the NHS and living standards – Ukip is a “party of Tory people and Tory money”.

“Now they want to go even further than the Tories by giving another tax cut to millionaires,” he said.

Dugher said an analysis of Ukip’s tax plans show they are standing up for millionaires and the richest, not ordinary hardworking people, and are offering a tax cut worth more than £100,000 to more than 16,000 millionaires.

“This multi-billion giveaway to the very richest at a time when families are struggling exposes Nigel Farage’s fraudulent claims to be a friend of hard-working families. Ex-Tory, ex-banker Nigel Farage is showing his true colours.

“Tory and Ukip policy platforms are merging: tax breaks for those at the top, working people left behind,” Dugher added.

Labour also claimed Ukip supports increased privatisation and charging to see a GP, although this is not official party policy.

Dugher’s position was backed up by Douglas Alexander, Labour’s election co-ordinator, who said: “We need to be absolutely clear that Ukip represents a clear and present danger to working people.”

Nottingham University academic Matthew Goodwin has identified the typical profile of Ukip voters as blue-collar, struggling and left behind by the mainstream parties. Around 45% of the party’s voters supported the Conservatives in 2010, while 15% gave their vote to the Lib Dems and 11% to Labour.

However, there was evidence of Ukip’s growing influence across the spectrum in the local elections, where the party averaged 20% in Conservative-held wards and 25% in Labour-held wards.