Anti-EU UKIP unveils rally plans for 'Brexit' campaign

The leader of Britain's anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) on Thursday unveiled plans for hundreds of rallies from September to campaign for a "No" vote in the EU membership referendum.

Nigel Farage said his party would launch a "major ground campaign" for the referendum, which Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to hold by 2017.

He criticised the lack of an organised "No" campaign, saying UKIP would campaign with fellow eurosceptics, many of whom are Conservatives, "once they've got off their backsides and decided to join this fight".

"In the absence of anybody else, UKIP is going to take the lead in this country," Farage said in a speech in London, criticising Conservative eurosceptics for "going to ground".

Farage urged eurosceptics to unite in the campaign, warning that there was "no doubt at all" that the "Yes" side were ahead in the polls.

Some senior Conservatives have suggested the referendum could be held as early as next year and the Independent newspaper reported last week that Cameron would confirm this at his party's annual conference in October.

Cameron has said he will campaign for Britain to stay in the European Union if he can renegotiate its terms of membership to strengthen British sovereignty.

But Farage said that his party, which has one MP in the House of Commons, was "not interested" in Cameron's renegotiation, adding: "The 'No' side needs to set the agenda."