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Labour and UKIP claim victory in North East Euro vote | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Labour and the UK Independence Party both claimed victories in the European elections in the North East, while the Tories lost a leading MEP. | |
Labour polled 221,988 and took two seats, up one. UKIP gained a seat, returning a single MEP with 177,660 votes. | |
The North East's first UKIP MEP, Jonathan Arnott said voters rejected "uncontrolled immigration". | |
Tory Martin Callanan, said keeping his seat was "too much of a stretch". | |
The Lib Dems also failed to retain the seat they won in 2009. | The Lib Dems also failed to retain the seat they won in 2009. |
Speaking after his election, Mr Arnott said: "We have had a very clear message in this campaign. | |
"We are the party that says no to European union and we are the party that says no to uncontrolled immigration. | |
"That message has gone down very well on the doorstep in this single issue election which was only about European union." | |
The Tories came third with 107,733, votes, while the Lib Dems took 36,093 and the Greens 31,605. | |
'Corrosive' | |
Labour doubled its representation in the region with the election of two new MEPs and 36% of the vote. | |
Newly elected Jude Kirton-Darling said: "It is a fantastic night for Labour. | |
"We have knocked the leader of the Tories out of the European Parliament - an extremely corrosive politician who has upset a lot of people. | |
"Labour is putting forward policies which are resonating on the doorstep - the living wage, addressing the health system, education - these are the things that people really care about. | |
"People's main concerns are about jobs and housing." | |
Her new colleague Paul Brannen added that Labour would listen to the concerns of those who "felt unable to vote for them in this election". | Her new colleague Paul Brannen added that Labour would listen to the concerns of those who "felt unable to vote for them in this election". |
"Ultimately, we will only be able to address those if we go on and win the General Election a year from now. This result puts us on target to do that." | "Ultimately, we will only be able to address those if we go on and win the General Election a year from now. This result puts us on target to do that." |
Speaking after his defeat Mr Callanan, Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists group, said: "The North East has always been a Labour stronghold so winning a seat for the Conservative party in the region is always difficult. | |
"I've managed it on three occasions, unfortunately on the fourth occasion it was too much of a stretch." | |
Meanwhile UKIP's Mr Arnott promised to create "shock waves" when he takes his seat in parliament. | |
"Nigel Farage promised a political earthquake. We have caused that tonight. | |
"It is time now to go to Brussels and to work together with any moderate, like-minded politicians and let us take the North East's message to Brussels and let us create shockwaves there too." | |
The Lib Dems lost more than 11% of their vote and finished just under 4,000 votes ahead of the Greens. | |
Lib Dem, Angelika Schneider, said it was "back to the drawing board" for the party. | |
"We need to find out what's gone right in this campaign and what has gone wrong and learn from it - back to the drawing board. | |
"I don't think internal squabbles at this stage will help us", Ms Schneider said. | |
Overall, only a third of people eligible to vote in the European elections in the region turned out at the polls. | |
Seats in the European Parliament are allocated according to the D'Hondt system, a type of proportional representation. | Seats in the European Parliament are allocated according to the D'Hondt system, a type of proportional representation. |
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