The leader of British political party UKIP says he is confident going into an election despite predictions the party will struggle to get seats.
UKIP holds 23 seats in the European Parliament but only two in the House of Commons. Both seats were won by sitting MPs who defected from the Tories.
The party was polling at 12 per cent nationally but Britain’s first-past-the-post system meant UKIP and its leader may struggle to win seats.
Leader Nigel Farage appeared unconcerned.
"I will not contemplate failure," he said. "I have a feeling I could be around for quite a long time."
One of the party’s self-styled "People's Army" foot soldiers was Australian immigrant Greg Clough.
"I will not contemplate failure. I have a feeling I could be around for quite a long time."
"The accent does throw people," Mr Clough said. "They say, 'Well, aren't you the anti-immigration party?'. [I say] no, we’re not. We’re anti uncontrolled-immigration. We just want people that have some skills, something to benefit Britain."
'There’s a phenomenon that’s going on called 'the shy UKIPper' and a lot of people don’t want to profess their support of UKIP."
"You meet someone on the doorstep and they say, 'Oh yeah, I support you but I don’t really want to discuss it'. So what we’re expecting is that when people are in the privacy of the election booth you’re going to get a bit of surprise about the level of UKIP support."
But Ruth Grove-White of the Migrant Right’s Network said this so-called obsession with immigration could backfire at the ballot box.
"Migrants will potentially have the power to swing a number of marginal seats and in areas with very diverse populations with heated debates about immigration that could be very significant," she said.
There are 7.5 million foreign-born UK residents, about 12 per cent of the total population. On the campaign trail, UKIP leader Nigel Farage controversially linked them to the risk of HIV.
"There are 7000 diagnoses in this country every year for people who are HIV positive, 60 per cent of which are not British nationals," he said. "I think you ought to be ashamed of yourself."
The election will be held on May 7.
