Shock as BNP wins two seats in Euro elections (From The Northern Echo)

Shock as BNP wins two seats in Euro elections

9:50pm Sunday 7th June 2009

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THE FAR right British National Party provoked outrage last night after winning its first seats in the European Parliament.

Politicians on all sides of the party spectrum united to condemn the result.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham said the BNP win was a "sad moment". The BNP candidate said it was the "first step to freedom" from EU "dictatorship".

It was a terrible night for Labour, with the party capturing just 15.8 per cent of the votes.

In the North-East, however, it was business as usual, albeit with a much reduced Labour share of the vote.

The British National Party won seats in a national election for the first time in its history after receiving 120,139 votes in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

The party’s candidate Andrew Brons became one of six MEPs elected in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

And in the North-West of England, party leader Nick Griffin was elected.

Labour saw its share of the vote squeezed, with the far right party doing particularly well in South Yorkshire.

The British National Party achieved 16% of the vote in Barnsley, nearly 12% in Doncaster and 15% in Rotherham.

Richmond MP William Hague described the BNP's success as a "deplorable result" and claimed the far right party had gained traction at Labour's expense.

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said: ‘‘On D-Day, Britain sent an army to Europe to stop the Nazis getting to Britain. ‘‘It is an absolute insult to the memories to those who fought that 65 years later Britain is now sending Nazis to Europe to represent us.’’

BNP Chairman Nick Griffin said his party would go on to become a major political force.

In the North-East, Stephen Hughes (Lab), Martin Callanan (Con) and Fiona Hall (Lib/Dem) have all been re-elected.

But Labour's share of the vote has slumped by nine per cent and there have been big gains for the UK Independence Party and the BNP, which polled more than 50,000 votes.

Already Welsh Secretary Peter Hain has predicted the party is facing a "terrible" night.

With Mr Brown’s political survival hanging in the balance, deputy leader Harriet Harman admitted that they were expecting a ‘‘very dismal’’ night.

If Labour's North-East decline is repeated elsewhere it will add to the pressure on Gordon Brown who has vowed to stay in office despite calls to go.

Labour, which won 25 per cent of the vote in the North-East, the Conservatives, which won 19.8 per cent, and the Lib Dems, on 17.6 per cent, were each awarded a single MEP

The UKIP candidate received more than 90,000 votes.

Stephen Hughes said: "I am delighted with the backdrop of everything thats being going on recently that we have topped the poll.

"I think the Labour party has to unite behind the Prime Minister and back his attempts to clean up politics here in Britain."

The BNP was poised to win its first seat, Labour sources said.

The party’s candidate Andrew Brons was on course to become one of six MEPs elected in the Yorkshire and Humber region, according to unofficial estimates.

Labour saw its share of the vote squeezed, with the far right party doing particularly well in South Yorkshire.

The British National Party achieved 16% of the vote in Barnsley, nearly 12% in Doncaster and 15% in Rotherham.

In the South East Labour were being pushed into fifth place behind the Green Party.

With around half the votes declared, the Conservatives were well in the lead, polling more than 450,000 votes, with the UK Independent Party in second place on 250,000.

The Liberal Democrats were third with 192,000 and the Green Party edged Labour on 144,000, with Labour trailing in fifth with 101,000. The British Nationalist Party had just under 60,000.

It was not possible to give an indication of what this would mean for seats but it looked likely that the Conservatives would keep the four seats they won in 2004.

Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan said: ‘‘We are winning by a decent margin.’’ In Scotland Nationalists outpolled Labour by a clear margin in early results.

The SNP looked certain to finish the night ahead of Labour in the popular vote - achieving the goal which SNP leader Alex Salmond had set his party.

On early results of how Scotland voted at local council level, the Labour vote was not yet in meltdown and the party could finish up in second place in terms of the Scottish share of the vote.

In a series of humiliations the SNP outpolled Labour in several council areas including Edinburgh.

In Fife, the home turf of Gordon Brown, Labour squeaked ahead of the SNP but only by a 200-vote margin - 21,248 to 21,043.

Labour was deal a spectacular blow in East Renfrewshire - this time not by the SNP but by the Tories.

Jim Murphy, the Secretary of State for Scotland, is MP for Eastwood, which covers East Renfrewshire council area.

And tonight Labour came third there with 20.8% of the votes, behind the first-place Tories at 28.6% and the second-place SNP with 22.8% The full Scottish result will not be known until tomorrow, when voting figures for the Western Isles council are disclosed.

But after about a third of Scotland’s council areas announced their figures, a Scottish Press Association calculation put the Tories on 17%, the Liberal Democrats on 13%, the Greens on 9%, the SNP on 28%, and Labour on 20%.

UKIP was polling at just under 5%.

The last European elections gave Labour, the Tories and the SNP two seats each, and the Lib Dems one.

This time round, the number of Scottish Euro seats is falling to six.

And whether Labour keeps two Euro seats in Scotland could go right to the wire- when the final figures for the Western Isles are announced tomorrow.

NE Results: BNP 52,700 Cons 116,911 Christian Party 7,263 Green 34,081 English Democrats 13,003 Jury Team 2,904 Labour 147,338 Lib Dems 103,644 Libertas 3,010 No to EU 8,066 Socialist Labour 10,238 UKIP 90,700

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