Michael Dugher MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, responding to Douglas Carswell’s defection to UKIP, said:

“Douglas Carswell’s defection is a hammer blow to David Cameron. 

"Confidence in David Cameron is collapsing inside a Conservative party which is divided and running scared of UKIP. 

"David Cameron’s weak leadership has seen him abandon the centre ground, repeatedly trying to pander to his own right-wing backbenchers rather than concentrate on the needs of the country. Now even his own side are abandoning him. 

"This is a Prime Minister who is running out of MPs as well as ideas on how to make the big changes this country needs to see. This turmoil inside the Conservative Party shows that they are too busy obsessing with themselves rather than standing up for the public.

“We already know that UKIP are against the interests of working people, wanting higher taxes for working families, huge giveaways for the rich, scrapping rights at work and charges to see your GP. The fact that a Tory MP has now joined UKIP shows that the message to working people is clear: vote UKIP and you not only get policies that are more extreme than the Tories, you also get the Tories.”