East Midlands: UKIP comes out on top in Euro elections

UKIP finished in first place in the East Midlands region for the 2014 European election matching its wider success by beating all other political parties to take the top spot in the national polls.
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The party enjoyed regional success, which includes the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland after voting on Thursday, May 22.

UKIP won 32.9 per cent of the vote, ahead of the Conservatives, who finished second on 26 per cent. Both parties will send two MEPs to Brussels.

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Labour came third with 24.9 per cent, meaning the party has had one MEP elected.

The Green Party finished fourth, pushing the Liberal Democrats into fifth.

East Midlands’ lead candidates included MEP Emma McClarkin, Conservative, Bill Newton-Dunn, Lib Dem, MEP Glenis Willmott, Labour, Katharina Boettge, Green, MEP Roger Helmer, Ukip, and Kevin Sills, English Democrats.

Conservatives were offering an in-out Euro referendum.

The Lib Dems said they felt the EU will create jobs. Labour believes the EU will support business. The Greens hoped to address climate change. UKIP and the English Democrats both outlined how they want to secure Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.

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Results, announced by David Cook, the chief executive of Kettering Borough Council, which acted as the lead authority for the region, mean three incumbent East Midlands MEPs will be making a return to the European Parliament.

Sitting UKIP MEP Roger Helmer, from Lutterworth in Leicestershire, is joined by party colleague Margot Parker, from near Corby in Northamptonshire.

Conservative Emma McClarkin, from Market Harborough in Leicestershire, was re-elected, and will sit alongside new Tory MEP Andrew Lewer, from Matlock.

Labour’s Glenis Willmott, from Lockington near Derby, also retained her seat.

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However, Lib Dem Bill Newton Dunn, Britain’s longest-serving MEP, will not be returning to Brussels.

New UKIP MEP Margot Parker said: “We had a tremendous campaign thanks to the team’s hard work and tenacity. We have been campaigning for almost six months.

“We gauged that we were speaking the language of the people out there.

“The nonsense we have had thrown at us by the other parties has been cast aside by the voters. I’m privileged to have received those votes, which I hold very dear.”