'Our country is unrecognisable' Farage’s rallying cry on immigration at Ukip conference

Addressing his party's Spring conference in Torquay, Mr Farage issued a rallying cry ahead of the European and local elections on May 22, telling party members "together we can get our country back".

Mr Farage claimed his party poses the biggest threat to the political establishment in modern times, and said Lib Dem Nick Clegg's challenge to a debate in Britain's EU membership will make the forthcoming campaign "rather exciting".

He also talked up the party's candidates in the upcoming elections, saying they were "from the real world".

Mr Farage told the conference: "80 per cent of us in this country believe open door immigration is irresponsible, against the interests of the people in this country and that it must stop.

"We have seen since 2004 a doubling of youth unemployment, we have seen since that time wage compression - people doing jobs now taking home less money than they were 10 years ago.

"All of this has happened because we now have a totally distorted labour market in Britain, because of the massive oversupply that has come to us from eastern Europe.

"It's ordinary folk, it's ordinary families that are paying the financial price. But what about the social price of this?

"The fact that in scores of our cities and market towns, this country in a short space of time has frankly become unrecognisable.

"Whether it is the impact on local schools and hospitals, whether it is the fact in many parts of England you don't hear English spoken any more.

"This is not the kind of community we want to leave to our children and grandchildren."

The Ukip leader said none of the three traditional parties had any answers for the British people, claiming they "did not lift a finger" to stop freedom of movement restrictions on Romania and Bulgaria ending in January.

He highlighted yesterday's immigration figures which showed a big increase in net migration, during a keynote address which drew frequent applause and a standing ovation.

The figures showed last year net migration soared to 212,000 - up from 154,000 the previous year.

The number of Romanians and Bulgarians arriving in the UK trebled from 9,000 to 24,000 in the same period

Mr Farage said: "It isn't directly Romania and Bulgaria that I'm necessarily concerned about. What I'm really concerned about is the fact in the eurozone, in the Mediterranean there is no sign or prospect of any significant recovery at all.

"In fact, it is most likely the majority of Romanians who come to Britain don't come from Romania - they will come from Italy and Spain where there are already a million Romanian migrant workers.

"If the eurozone goes as badly over the next few years as I still believe that it will, we face the prospect of the largest migratory wave that has ever come to this country and we have three political parties who are not prepared to do anything about it."

Mr Farage also criticised the Government's handling of the recent floods, saying it showed a "lack of confidence" from the ruling class.

Mr Farage said it appeared the country was "unfit" to manage its affairs and aimed his fire at the Environment Agency.

He called for a public inquiry into the handling of the floods by the agency.

"We have handed over the day-to-day management of many important aspects of our lives to quangos like - yes, you've guessed it - the Environment agency," Mr Farage said.

"Whose priorities appear to be more concerned on the preservation of molluscs, beetles and water voles than our farmer and our householders; compliance with EU directives being more important than flood prevention.

"If I lived in Somerset, I would be very angry at the lack of dredging, which this time last year, people cried out for.

"A full public inquiry is needed to establish the basis upon which this quango operates."

The Ukip leader said that since the 2010 elections, candidates were now of a "quality and calibre" the party could be proud of.

He said: "Despite repeated attempts to ridicule us, our people come from the real world, they've got real-life experiences, unlike the political classes.

"And they're people who have already had jobs - how about that."

Mr Farage highlighted increased numbers of women in the party and the prominent place on candidate lists of many women.

"The point here that distinguishes us is that we have not used positive discrimination, we have not used all-female shortlists," he said.

"Our women have achieved these positions on the European elections lists through merit, which is the example of the kind of society we want to live in."

The Deputy Prime Minister laid down the gauntlet for a debate on the EU earlier this month.

On February 20 on his weekly LBC phone-in, Mr Clegg said: "I'll tell you what I'll do. I will challenge Nigel Farage to a public, open debate about whether we should be in or out of the European Union.

"He is the leader of the party of out, I am the leader of the party of in.

"And I think it's now time we have a proper public debate so that the public can listen to the two sides of the argument and judge for themselves."

Referencing it today, Mr Farage said: "Ukip wanted a proper EU debate for donkey's years and now we're actually going to get it."