Cameron goes back to basics by focusing on the economy and immigration as UKIP claims polls surge Measures unpopular with traditional Tories ditched from Queen's Speech This includes plans for a minimum price for alcohol and plain cigarette packs Instead several Bills aimed at boosting economic growth will be worked on Back to basics: David Cameron will attempt to settle Tory nerves in the wake of today's election results by vowing to focus on the economy and immigration David Cameron will attempt to settle Tory nerves in the wake of today's election results by vowing to focus on the economy and immigration. Nanny-state measures unpopular with traditional Tories - including plans for a minimum price for alcohol and plain cigarette packs - have been ditched from next week's Queen's Speech. As UKIP last night appeared on course for its best showing in a Commons by-election and local polls, legislation allowing the State to record people's internet and social media use, dubbed a "snooper's charter" and opposed by the Liberal Democrats and 40 Tory MPs, is also being shelved. Instead, several Bills aimed at boosting economic growth, and one which will limit the right of immigrants to access benefits, the NHS and other public services, will be at the heart of the Government's future programme. The Prime Minister's chief rival, London Mayor Boris Johnson, yesterday urged him also to "ram home the message" that he will call a referendum on Britain's place in the EU by backing legislation that would enshrine his promise in law. In an apparent attempt to appease his backbenchers and help neutralise the UKIP threat, Mr Cameron suggested he was open to the idea of legislation to convince voters he will keep his pledge to hold an in/out vote by 2018 if he stays in power. Mr Johnson said: "I think it's very important that there should be clarity in people's minds, that we don't have a repeat of the situation we had with the Lisbon Treaty where we thought we were going to get a referendum and then it was somehow whisked off the table. So I'm sure the Prime Minister and the Government are absolutely sincere in their pledge to have a referendum. It's going to happen, but maybe just to ram that message home, some legislation would be a good idea. Such legislation would not be brought forward by the Government, since the Lib Dems refuse to back it. Instead, the Conservative leadership would support a backbench Bill which would throw down the gauntlet to Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg, who would take a big risk by voting against a referendum which enjoys strong public support. Optimistic: UKIP last night appeared on course for its best showing in a Commons by-election and local polls. Its leader, Nigel Farage, relaxes during a visit to Ramsey in Cambridgeshire while on the local election campaign trail Labour was last night confident of holding South Shields, one of its safest Parliamentary seats, but expected UKIP to dent its performance with a strong second place and push the Lib Dems into a humiliating fourth. In local elections across the country, UKIP was hitting the Conservatives in their shire heartlands, and was expected to come close to matching the Labour share of the vote. Sources in all three of the main parties said they expected the anti-EU party to do better than ever before in both the town and country elections and in South Shields. The strong UKIP showing in South Shields, which has been Labour since the 1920s and was held by David Miliband from 2001 until he announced he was quitting Parliament in March, suggests it represents a serious threat to all parties. A UKIP source said: "We expect at the very least to give Labour a bloody nose in South Shields while giving the Conservatives a bloody nose in the rural leafy shires of England." There is growing concern in Labour ranks that UKIP appears to be scooping up the protest votes that would be expected to come to the main opposition party in the mid-term of a relatively unpopular Government. Tory HQ said it expected to see 400 or more councillors swept away. The party had expected big losses, since the seats contested yesterday were last fought in 2009, at the nadir of Gordon Brown's government. Overall, UKIP expects to pick up about 100 seats. A UKIP canvasser was last night suspended from the party pending an urgent investigation after posting sickening anti-Muslim comments and racist pictures online. North Yorkshire pensioner Tony Nixon made jokes on Facebook about destroying mosques, setting Muslims on fire and running over people from Pakistan with a bus. The profile of the UKIP member, who claims to have canvassed 800 homes in the Stokesley area in the run-up to yesterday's elections, reveals that he supports numerous right-wing groups, including the English Defence League.