Ed Miliband has asked a group of his senior MPs to form an attack unit against Ukip, by branding them the heirs to Margaret Thatcher

Ed Miliband has asked a group of his senior MPs to form an attack unit against Ukip, by branding them the heirs to Margaret Thatcher.

Amid growing fears about the party’s appeal to traditional Labour voters, he has asked Northern-based members of his team including shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper and energy spokeswoman Caroline Flint to head the operation.

It is a sign of the growing panic within his party about Ukip – after Labour only narrowly clung on to one its heartland seats of Heywood and Middleton in a by-election last week, by 617 votes.

The taskforce which also includes former minister John Healey and Jon Trickett, a close ally of Mr Miliband, was formed several months ago but will be stepping up its attacks in the coming weeks.

Their slogan describes Ukip as ‘More Tory than the Tories’, and has already accused Mr Farage’s party of advocating a flat tax for everyone regardless of income and charging patients to use the NHS.

Labour will apply this attack to other policies and also target Mr Farage personally as an ‘ex-Tory ex-banker’ and ardent admirer of Lady Thatcher - last year he claimed his party were ‘the true inheritors of Thatcher’ in the hope of putting off voters in deprived Northern seats.

A source said this was working well on the doorsteps in former industrial areas being targeted by Ukip, but had not had enough time to make an impact before the by-election in Lancashire.

Nigel Farage held his party’s conference in Doncaster, Mr Miliband’s constituency, last month and declared: ‘We are now parking our tanks on the Labour Party’s lawn.’

He declared last week that Ukip was ‘tearing vast chunks’ out of the Labour vote in traditional strongholds such as the north of England and Wales.

In recent weeks, Ukip representatives have moved to the Left on several issues and been at pains to claim they would choose to keep the health service free at the point of use.

Nigel Farage held his party’s conference in Doncaster, Mr Miliband’s constituency, last month and declared: ‘We are now parking our tanks on the Labour Party’s lawn.’

They also now oppose the so-called ‘Bedroom Tax’ on spare rooms in council homes and a trade agreement which would affect the NHS.

The by-election scare prompted a change of tone about immigration within the Labour party. Mr Miliband and Miss Cooper both claiming publicly after the result that they understood people’s concerns about it and would take action to stop local people losing out on jobs and housing.

But many within the party fear it could be too little too late, with Nigel Farage determined to pick up ‘left behind’ former Labour supporters at the next general election in seven months’ time.