Labour is losing is claim to be the party of the working class to Ukip, according to a devastating poll which will make grim reading for Ed Miliband.

The survey shows more voters believe Nigel Farage’s party is in touch with the concerns of white, working class people across the country than the Labour party, which has long claimed to represent them.

It comes after Mr Miliband sacked frontbencher Emily Thornberry after being accused of sneering at working class voters after posting a photograph online of a house in Rochester with three England flags and a white van outside.

Labour’s hopes of securing victory in next year’s general election depend on holding on to their core working class vote in the north, and building support in the south.

But Mr Miliband has been stung by claims he is an out-of-touch North London intellectual with little in common with millions of working class voters.

Just 21 per cent of voters believe Labour is most in touch with the white working-class compared to 27 per cent who said the same of Ukip, according to a YouGov poll for The Times.

Among white working class voters the gap was even wider: 29 per cent thought Ukip best represented them, while just 20 per cent thought Labour was most in tune with their lives.

It is a major boost for Ukip which hopes to build on the success of getting MPs in Clacton and Rochester and Strood by making in-roads into Labour heartlands.

There is growing unease in the Labour leadership that it is seen as out of touch with working voters.

Mr Miliband sought to burnish his working class credentials, declaring that when he saw a white van he thought: ‘Respect.’

Ukip leader Nigel Farage hopes to build on his success against the Tories by taking on Ed Miliband's Labour party in their working class heartlands

On Thursday night he demanded Mrs Thornberry quit the shadow Cabinet after telling MailOnline she had 'never seen anything like it' when she tweeted a picture of a terrace home in Rochester with three England flags and a white van parked in the drive.

The Islington South MP faced a barrage of criticism including from outraged Labour colleagues who accused her of being 'derogatory'.

One senior Labour insider said it was 'worse than the Gillian Duffy moment' when Gordon Brown was recorded calling a voter a 'bigoted woman' after she raised concerns about immigration.

Labour frontbenchers have been ordered to hold town hall meetings in their constituencies to discuss the issue of immigration.

There are fears the party has failed to do enough to tackle the threat of Ukip, which came within 617 votes of beating Labour to win the Heywood and Middleton by-election.

Emily Thornberry quit the Labour frontbench last week after tweeting this picture of a house in Rochester

The Islington South MP faced a barrage of criticism including from outraged Labour colleagues who accused her of being 'derogatory'

However, yesterday a separate poll showed quarter of Britons would fall out with their friends if they discovered they were Ukip supporters.

Despite a surge in support Ukip remains by the far the most toxic of the all the main political parties.

Three times as many people said they would ‘find it harder to stay close with a good friend’ if they voted Ukip than if they supported the Tories.

Just one in 14 Britons said they would struggle to stay friends with a Conservative supporter – compared to one in four who admitted they would not be able to remain close to a Ukip voter.

Labour is the least ‘toxic’ of all the main Westminster parties – with just three per cent of the public admitting that they would stop being friends with someone who backed Ed Miliband.