Barroso says UKIP 'could win European elections' in the UK

The European Commission president has predicted that UKIP - which wants Britain out of the EU - may win next year's European elections in the UK.

Speaking in a European Parliament debate, Jose Manuel Barroso accused the Conservatives of turning Eurosceptic for electoral advantage.

He told the Conservative leader in the European Parliament, Martin Callanan: "Your party and your group are looking like the UKIP and the Eurosceptic European group.

"And I start to have some doubts that you are going to be elected yourself in Britain, if it is not UKIP that is going to be the first force in the British elections".

UKIP came second in the 2009 European elections behind the Conservatives.