WITH pollsters predicting UKIP could win up to seven seats in May’s Welsh Assembly election, the party’s candidate for Gwent, Mark Reckless, has said campaigners have received "an increasingly positive response" in Newport.

The former Rochester and Strood MP, who is running for South Wales East AM, was speaking ahead of a visit to Newport by the party’s outspoken leader Nigel Farage tomorrow.

Mr Farage – a controversial figure among some for his strongly anti-immigration views – will visit the city to speak at an anti-European Union rally.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Mr Reckless said the party wanted to “make devolution work”.

“Seventeen years of disappointment and failure under devolved, Labour-led governments should not automatically mean we despair of devolution,” he said. “It is time for a new approach, and that is what UKIP offers in Wales.

“We will shake up the cosy Cardiff Bay establishment parties.”

Mr Reckless, who defected to UKIP from the Conservatives in 2014 but lost his seat in last year’s General Election, said the party’s campaigners had received “an increasingly positive response” in Newport. He also singled out campaigners in Blaenavon, saying he was “particularly struck by how much Labour support has collapsed”.

“We are the natural party for those who feel left behind or let down,” he said.

“Blaenavon has strong and visible civic pride and appeals to tourists.

“Locals feel this reflects their own efforts rather than anything the assembly has done.”

He also said a UKIP-led Assembly would abolish the tolls on the Severn Crossings, calling the UK Government’s approach to the issue “outrageous”.

“The tolls are a massive deterrent to trade and tourism for Wales and a handicap on the Welsh economy,” he said.

“Only a fraction of money raised is needed to maintain the bridges, we estimate no more than £10m a year.

“To the extent that a Welsh government contribution is needed to those costs, UKIP will provide it by axing the budget for climate change projects, which under Welsh Labour is set to rise by more than half to £73m this year.”

But, despite running for one of the four South Wales East seats in the Senedd, Mr Reckless is not scheduled to speak at tomorrow’s rally.

UKIP Wales leader Nathan Gill, who represents Wales in the European Parliament and is running for North Wales in May, will however, as well as Conservative MP for Wellingborough and former Newport resident Peter Bone, and his Tory colleague for Corby Tom Pursglove.

Head of the Labour Leave campaign group Brendan Chilton and Telegraph columnist Simon Heffer will also speak at the Rodney Parade event, which will begin at 7pm.

But campaign group Stand up to UKIP Wales are planning to stage a protest at the event.