This week Nigel Farage launched the United Kingdom Independence party’s 2015 election campaign addressing an audience at Canvey Island, Essex.

There was a hint of desperation in his words as he urged Britons to ‘believe in Britain’ and asked ‘neglected voters to make their voices heard and choose MPs that care about their lives’, a final attempt to prove that Ukip can offer something different. He used the age-old ‘us versus them’ sentiment, more attuned with a rally, posing Ukip as the ‘us,’ siding with people, against the ‘established elite parties’.

And in doing so Farage set out his terms for Ukip’s role in any minority government, believing like many that this will be the result of the upcoming election. Significantly he ruled out a coalition with any major political party but confirmed that Ukip would consider a deal with the party that offered an immediate in-out referendum on European Union membership, perhaps realising that to win hearts and minds he must banish the Tory ghost that lurks in the shadows of his party.

It is not wholly surprising either that the limited policy he offered reaffirmed his comments at their annual conference that ‘we are now parking our tanks on the Labour party’s lawn’, As the Ukip leader pledged to put £3bn into NHS, revoke the bedroom tax and scrap tuition fees, casually ignoring the fact that the party’s newest recruits, and only sitting MPs, Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless, had voted in favour of these policies without even flinching.

He even went as far as to say that Ukip was also ‘beginning now to dig quite deep into some of the ethnic community vote’, perhaps acknowledging that, despite certain concerns surrounding immigration, the majority of Britons do not wish to elect a party that is tainted with accusations of racism.

But the key feature of Farage’s speech was the sense of pride in our country that he attempted to invoke. This was a speech designed to pull at the heartstrings. And, whether we like it or not, his words will resound with many in our communities, including those who have voted Labour their whole lives but now feel they have been left behind. People who are searching for a sense of hope but are not quite sure where to find it. Farage would have us think that for those people the only choice is to vote Ukip. We must prove him wrong.

We should not be afraid of stepping up and saying we are the party of hope and aspiration, or of reminding people just what a Labour government achieved – a national minimum wage; devolution; thousands more doctors and nurses; Sure Start centres; winter fuel allowance; civil partnerships, increased numbers of university students and doubling the number of apprenticeships. And let’s not forget that it was a Labour government which took 500,000 children out of poverty. That is our legacy and we should be proud of it.

The country needs a party that can offer a hopeful future, a future where young people can go on and get an apprenticeship or go to university, where they can get a better-skilled, better-paid job or start a small business and become their own boss. We are the party to deliver these aspirations, because this is the essence of our values.

I want to end with a message for Farage. I believe in Britain – the Britain that I grew up in. A Britain that nurtures ambition, regardless of your background, race or religion. A Britain that does not shut itself off from the rest of the world and embraces diversity. A Britain that unites not divides our communities.

That is a Britain work fighting for and not one that we will give up on.

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Naushabah Khan is parliamentary candidate for Rochester and Strood. She tweets @naushabahkhan