YORKSHIRE men are most likely to switch from Labour to UKIP, a leaked Labour strategy document has admitted.

The paper says the right-wing party is winning over “disenchanted” Labour supporters who believe their party is more interested in attracting “better-educated, middle-class” voters.

And it highlights West Yorkshire as an area where UKIP is winning up to 20 per cent of the vote, among its highest scores anywhere in the country.

The admissions come in a party document sent to Labour MPs believed to be most at risk from a UKIP surge, with advice on how to fight back on the doorstep.

It was leaked after UKIP named a Bradford South as a key target for next year’s general election, declaring it the most “winnable” anywhere in Yorkshire.

Jason Smith, the chairman of UKIP Bradford, said “most Conservatives will vote UKIP in Bradford South, to get Labour out”.

But the outgoing Gerry Sutcliffe – who holds the seat with a majority of 4,622 – pointed out that UKIP does not hold any council seats in his constituency.

Now the 33-page document, entitled ‘Campaigning Against UKIP’, has stressed how its popularity is on the rise far from its roots in the rural South-West and East of England.

It says: “A major part of UKIP’s electoral success appears to have come from disenchanted supporters of all three main parties.”

They included “former Labour supporters who feel that the party has left them behind in pursuit of better-educated, middle-class, white-collar voters”.

The “most likely switcher” is a ‘worn out worker’ – a white man, aged 47 to 66, in low skilled work, unemployed, or with low prospects, living in Yorkshire.

The document sparked a row because MPs were told to focus on “moving the conversation on” to topics where Labour is stronger – such as health care or housing – when voters could not be convinced on immigration.

The advice embarrassed Ed Miliband, on the day he made a speech pledging to jail employers who undercut wages by exploiting migrants as part of efforts to address immigration concerns.

However, the document also urged Labour MPs to “face the issue of immigration directly with identified UKIP supporters” and to “set out our immigration policy clearly”.

At the end of his speech on immigration in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, Mr Miliband described the document as "not very well drafted" but said there could be no suggestion he was seeking to dodge the issue.

He said: "I think what matters about our party is what I'm saying on this stage - the pledge we're making rather than some not very well drafted language in a briefing document.

"I don't think anybody's in any doubt where Labour stands on this."

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