General election 2015: Conservative chairman Grant Shapps rules out Ukip pact after general election
Remarks came when Mr Shapps was asked if he could rule out coalition deal with Nigel Farage's party
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Your support makes all the difference.Grant Shapps says any "pacts and deals" with Ukip have been ruled out following the general election.
The Conservative chairman made the statement at the launch of a campaign pamphlet detailing what he claimed were "30 days of Labour chaos", where he outlined all of the negative press Labour has faced in 2015.
His remarks were made when Mr Shapps was asked if he could rule out a coalition deal with Nigel Farage's party.
He replied: "I can rule out - We are not going to do pacts and deals with Ukip." Mr Shapps said Tories were focused on securing an overall majority, but acknowledged that May's general election was going to be "incredibly close".
"The choice at this election is becoming clearer by the day: the chaos of a weak Ed Miliband with no economic plan being propped up by Sinn Fein and Alex Salmond - the man who tried to destroy the United Kingdom.
"Or the stability and competence of David Cameron delivering on our long-term economic plan that's securing a better future for Britain."
Asked whether Tory rhetoric regarding immigration might dissuade migrant communities from voting for them, Tory chairman Grant Shapps said he is the first to admit people who move to the UK do not necessarily immediately think of voting Conservative.
"That's the experience of my own family," he said. I am third-generation British and my dad, who was second-generation, carried a Labour Party card and it wasn't until later in his life that he thought 'The party of aspiration, the party backing people who are working hard and trying to get on in life are the Conservatives'. He himself, at some point in his working life, switched.
"I see the same within the BME (black and minority ethnic) community in this country. I'm seeing more and more people attracted to the Conservative Party."
He also defended his party over the shock defection of Ukip MEP Amjad Bashir, saying he welcomed "anybody, regardless of where they’ve been in the past —with the exception of extreme parties".
Addressing activists in central London, Mr Shapps said that the coming general election presented voters with "the starkest of choices". He briefly appeared to contemplate an interminable battle ahead of him, telling activists there were "100 years" to go until polling day, before swiftly correcting himself to "100 days".
Additional reporting by PA
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