Nigel Farage: Ukip is the main opposition for EVERY party in EVERY seat in England

The Ukip leader made a passionate pitch to voters on both the left and right as he predicted a stunning result in May.

Mr Farage said his Ukip “People Army” was targeting voters who have been “left behind” from the Tory south to Labour north, promising that he would both address the cost of living and the cost of government.

In his first major speech of 2015 the Ukip leader also boasted he is fighting fit for the general election campaign after he lost weight while giving up alcohol for January.

Ruling out a coalition with either Labour or the Tories, Mr Farage set out Ukip policies including taking workers on the minimum wage out of income tax and scrapping tuition fees for science and engineering students.

Appearing at the Movie Starr Cinema in Canvey Island, Essex, the Ukip leader held a tub of popcorn bearing the party's logo as he launched the drive for the May poll.

He said the three main parties do not "believe in Britain" and predicted Ukip would win "significantly more" than two or three seats.

The only firm "red line" commitment he made during the speech was that the party would not compromise on its call for an EU referendum.

Mr Farage added: "We will not enter a coalition, no matter how tempting ministerial cars may be.

"We will only do a deal with anyone on the condition that there is an in/out referendum on the EU."

He said Ukip was the only party standing up for the little man and that it would not engage in "dirty politics" as its opponents "turned nasty".

He told the crowd: "We have crossed the class barrier in British politics. That is a remarkable achievement for Ukip and we pick up support from across every social spectrum.

"And we are also beginning now to dig quite deep into some of the ethnic community vote in this country as well, because people that have come to this country legally, that have made this country their home, that have integrated within our society, they want the Ukip agenda as much as anybody else.

"And what you will see during this election campaign are lots of Ukip candidates from the ethnic minorities. It is something the commentariat in Westminster probably won't understand but I think all of us in this room do."

The politician, known for enjoying a pint and a cigarette, thanked Jamie Huntman, Ukip's parliamentary candidate for Castle Point, which includes Canvey Island, for an introduction which claimed Mr Farage "refreshed the parts that other politicians cannot reach".

The party leader - who revealed he had lost weight by giving up alcohol after Christmas - joked that it was "very nice of him, after a dry January".

He added: "But the point is this: Ukip, as a political party, our candidates and our activists, are reaching voters that the other parties can't reach because we are bringing back into the political system, we are re-engaging people who have not voted for anybody for the last 20 years and we should be very proud, I think, as a party that we are doing that and we are really connecting."

Mr Farage said Ukip was "a truly national political party", dismissing the Conservatives as a "regional party for the South of England" and Labour as a similar party for the North.

He went on to describe his party as "the challenger in virtually every parliamentary seat from Birmingham up to Hadrian's Wall".

"We are going to give Labour in the North of England a real run for their money, that I have no doubt at all," he added.

He later branded an Ipsos Mori poll as “completely wrong” yesterday (Thur) after the survey showed Ukip had fallen below 10 per cent for the first time since 2013.