NIGEL Farage has likened the Tory manifesto to Ukip’s in 2015, saying he recognises much of the Conservative document “because they’re things that I have campaigned on for years”.

The former Ukip leader made the assertion while campaigning for the Brexit Party in Seaham, County Durham.

However, he is happy to see the Tories “changing the agenda” by talking about immigration levels.

“I recognise much of the Conservative manifesto because they’re things that I have campaigned on for years, such as hospital parking charges,” Farage said.

“Much of the manifesto was in fact in the Ukip 2015 manifesto, even recent ideas that I’ve announced like not exporting plastic waste for dumping in landfill in China or elsewhere, that’s in there. So, I’m pleased that they are changing the agenda. They’re even talking, maybe, about reducing immigration levels and of course Brexit.

“So, I do feel that I recognise a lot of it. My question is, do they mean it and are they going to deliver?”

Farage also said he is concerned that Boris Johnson’s plan to bring the withdrawal agreement back before Christmas could lead to “Brexit in name only”.

He said: “I want to get Brexit done, as does the country. Not just Brexit voters but now a large chunk of Remain voters just want this over and done with. “Getting it over and done with is one thing, getting it over and done with properly is quite another, and that is as I see it now the role of the Brexit Party – to get Brexit done properly.”

Farage added: “If he’s going to pass the withdrawal agreement between now and Christmas, which is what Boris is talking about today, then it’s going to have to have some amendments, because if we’re tied into regulatory and political alignment, it’s Brexit in name only.”

The leader also labelled polling data suggesting that the Brexit Party share of the vote may stand at as low as 3% as “nonsense”.

Both an Opinium and a BMG Research survey had the party on 3% of the vote, with the latter, which was recently published in The Independent, placing them even behind the Green Party.

Farage said: “That is just nonsense, you can play games with polls if you want to, I promise you that in many of these seats we’re well up in the high 20s, and we are challenging and we are rising.

“You cannot read anything into national polls – this is a series of by-elections taking place right across the country.”

Meanwhile, Union leaders slammed the Conservative manifesto as offering “nothing” for workers.

Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, insisted the Conservatives were also offering nothing for the UK’s “forgotten and left behind” towns and communities which have often been ignored in Tory Britain.

He said: “Tinkering around the edges offers nothing for those in our de-industrialised heartlands, or for those who voted Leave and are thinking of voting Tory or for their Brexit Party bedfellows.

“There’s nothing in it for young people, for pensioners, for nurses, for teachers, for car workers, for public sector workers.

“The Tories will do nothing to rebuild our manufacturing industries or stop the abuses of migrant workers by greedy bosses who use them to undercut pay and conditions.

“The Tories have nothing to offer that will make a real change to ordinary people. Only Labour’s manifesto speaks to the issues that effect everyday lives and only Labour can bring our divided country together.”

Manuel Cortes, leader of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, added: “This hollow manifesto is no programme for government. It offers just £3 billion a year increase in public spending over the course of parliament compared with £83 billion from Labour.”