More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Labour suffered a second disastrous election battering when it was pushed into fifth place in the south east region at the European election.
The party saw its share of the vote slump by five per cent compared to 2004 and languishing behind UKIP, which came second to the Conservatives, which polled 812,288 votes.
But while Labour endured another grim night at the polls, there was no actual change in the make up of MEPs for the region, with the parties maintaining exactly the same number of representatives.
The Green party saw the most significant increase in share of the vote, which went up by four per cent. Despite this, it will again just have one MEP for the region, Dr Caroline Lucas.
THE RESULTS FOR THE SOUTH EAST:
The results from the South East Region were delayed after a computer glitch hit the count, along with issues over the validation of voting papers, which took place in Southampton.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who was re-elected as an MEP for South East candidate, said: "Last time [2004] we came third, whcih everybody said was a fluke. This time we are second....that is a hell of an achievement."
Speaking after the declaration, he said it was time for Mr Brown to quit: "Gordon Brown - you broke your promise over a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and it is time you left. UKIP has delivered the coup de grace."
Conservative MEP Dan Hannan also used the occasion to demand a general election. "Prime Minister, how much more clearly do we have to speak before you understand us? The nation needs and the electorate demands a dissolution of Parliament."
Green MEP Dr Caroline Lucas said "The irony is that we have seen our vote go up but not quite enough to get us more MEPs but we have seen some tremendous results across the region."
Read Paul's blog on the European elections>>>>
Held on Thursday, 375 million people across 27 countries were able to vote for the 736 members of the European Parliament who will represent their interests for the next five years.
THE MEPs elected were:
Conservative:Dan Hannan, Richard Ashworth, Nirj Deva, James Elles
UKIP: Nigel Farage, Martea Anderson
Lib Dems: Catherine Bearder, Sharon Bowles
Green: Caroline Lucas
Labour: Peter Skinner
By Sarah Marshall and Chris Denham
The deputy leader of the Labour Group has lost his seat in the county council elections.
Derek Smyth, who has represented Ashford South for the past 11 years, lost to Conservative candidate, fireman Cllr Jim Wedgbury, with a majority of 290.
The Tories hold Ashford South for the first time since 1967. Labour were second.
And in Shepway, district council leader Cllr Robert Bliss (Con) lost his county council seat to the Liberal Democrats
On the results being declared, Cllr Wedgbury thanked Gordon Brown in a speech. He said: “If he wasn’t prime minister I wouldn’t be standing here today.”
Mr Smyth vowed to stand again in four years time. He said: “We have a firm base on which we can build to stage our comeback.”
The Liberal Democrats were third, BNP fourth - with 396 votes - and the Green Party fifth. The British National Party (BNP) has twice fielded a candidate in Ashford South but neither exceeded 50 votes. Karl Rouse, who was the BNP candidate, achieved almost 400 votes despite not campaigning himself. Other party members had canvassed but Mr Rouse did not blaming ill health.
The other notable result was that Cllr George Koowaree retained his seat, Ashford East, for the Liberal Democrats, with a clear majority. Cllr Koowaree arrived early in the morning and returned for the count after lunch, but had attended a hospital appointment during the day for treatment before a major operation on June 15.
The Conservatives retained all other seats in Ashford and Tenterden, with the Greens coming second in two areas: Ashford Rural East and Ashford Rural West.
Cllr Andrew Wickham (Con) was elected in Ashford Rural East, the area which includes Wye and the area close to Aldington which KCC has earmarked for a lorry park. He replaces Charles Findlay as the councillor for the division.
The Conservatives have retained control at County Hall and are on course for a resounding victory at the county council election.
Cllr Dick Pascoe has said he is "relieved" to have held on to his Folkestone North East's County seat.
"I'm flabbergasted," he said. " I thought it was a lot closer and I suspected that a lot of people voting against the Gpoverment would have gone UKIP and we could have lost it.
"I am going to enjoy representing the district again."
He took the seat ahead of highly-tipped Lib Dem Tom McNeice and People's First candidate Brian Copping.
