THE UKIP Independence Party, which sent shockwaves through the political establishment in the eastern counties five years ago when it won a seat in the European Parliament, is supremely confident that Jeffrey Titford will be re-elected.

By Graham Dines

THE UKIP Independence Party, which sent shockwaves through the political establishment in the eastern counties five years ago when it won a seat in the European Parliament, is supremely confident that Jeffrey Titford will be re-elected.

Buoyed by the decision of former television talk show host Robert Kilroy-Silk to join the campaign, Mr Titford said UKIP, which wants Britain to quit the European Union, was picking up support right across the six counties of the East of England, notably in Norfolk.

"Disillusioned Labour voters and anti-EU Tories are saying they will support us at the election on June 10. We find that in every street where we send our leaflets, we are getting returns showing support for us. It can't be coming from just one political party," said Mr Titford, who lives in Frinton-on-Sea and who stood at the General Election in Harwich in 1997 for James Goldsmith's now defunct Referendum Party.

"I've lost count of the number of farmers who have contacted us asking us to put posters up on their land."

The majority of UKIP's support at the 1999 elections came from Essex, but Mr Titford - speaking at his party's campaign launch in London - claimed that offers of help were now pouring in from the other five counties in the giant Euro constituency - Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

"Labour is in a very bad way. And the Conservatives are still saying `in Europe, not run by Europe' which voters do not want. Say 'no' which is our campaign slogan is appealing to a lot of people.

"It's time to say 'no.' Let's see if we can't get a better deal by being out of Europe and have a trading agreement with the EU."

Robert Kilroy-Silk, who will be the lead candidate in the East Midlands euro seat, said membership of the European Union was the major political issue of the generation. He said the voters had been "lied to" in 1975 during the European membership referendum campaign and had been "lied to ever since."

The elections on June 10 will be fought under the closed list system of proportional representation. Nominations close at 4pm today.