LABOUR appears to be taking the Ukip threat in its heartlands, like the North-East, seriously, and it is easy to see why.

Ukip has a clear message and a simple stance. Its rise obviously coincides with the vacancy in the box marked “none of the above”, and in council by-elections in County Durham it is usually coming second with 20 per cent of the vote – at the moment, Ukip is the opposition to Labour in the North-East.

The real difficulty for Labour is that it is failing to enthuse its own supporters. Its messages are muddled and it lacks presence, and much of that stems from the inability of its leader, Ed Miliband, to connect with ordinary people.

However, there is some irony in Labour’s latest internal document urging candidates to steer discussion on the doorstep away from immigration because this could have been one of Mr Miliband’s strongest suits. When he first stood to become leader, the North-East MPs who backed him did so partly because they saw immigration as an issue that Labour had failed to address but which Mr Miliband was prepared to tackle. And yesterday again he delivered another hardline speech – but the public still does not see him as being tough on immigration.

And so Ukip scores, with Nigel Farage’s simplistic message that Britain is full being clearly understood.

In the last week, though, Ukip has been rocked by a series of curious scandals: sex, homophobia and suggestions that a wealthy backer is trying to get a seat for Neil Hamilton, the former Conservative MP who was embroiled in a cash for questions scandal.

When May comes around, voters might be lured by Ukip’s messages, but they will also have to ask themselves whether it is a mature party with a depth of decent candidates. Neither the content of the tapes that have caused the downfall of Ukip’s Essex hopeful Kerry Smith, nor the way in which they were leaked, can have convinced anyone yet that this is a grown-up party.