DHAKA: Voter support for Britain’s anti-European Union United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) is at a record high according to one opinion poll on Sunday, reflecting a wider pattern of growing support for the party ahead of European elections next month.

The rising popularity of UKIP, which calls for an immediate withdrawal from the EU and tighter immigration laws, threatens to split the vote for Prime Minister David Cameron at European Parliament elections in May and a national election in 2015.

UKIP’s profile has been raised by the upcoming European elections on May 22, when polls suggest it could beat Cameron’s party into third place.

A ComRes poll of voting intentions for next year’s national election put UKIP on 20 percent - up four percentage points at their highest in the four-year history of the poll.

Cameron’s Conservatives fell three points to 29 percent.

BDST: 2054 HRS, APR 13, 2014