The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Farage celebrates Scottish victory
UKIP WILL “inject a completely new dynamic” into the independence referendum following its breakthrough in Scotland, Nigel Farage has claimed.
The party returned its first ever elected politician in Scotland in the European Parliament vote, with David Coburn now representing the country in Brussels.
Better Together has refused to allow Ukip any access to the pro-Union campaign, but that did not stop Mr Farage branding his team as “genuinely a UK independence party” which crosses “all social divides”.
He added: “We have made a breakthrough in Scotland — something which Alex Salmond will not enjoy very much at all. And we will inject a completely new dynamic into the referendum on separation that is coming up on September 18 this year.”
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon praised her party’s efforts by topping the poll. She added: “The SNP have also won a higher share of the vote than Ukip across the UK or in England.”
Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont said: “Alex Salmond and Nigel Farage represent the same things.”
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson called the election “a goodnight for the Conservatives in Scotland” as the party’s vote went up.
JUBILA NT UKIP leader Nigel Farage said his “people’s army” was on its way to Westminster after securing f irst place in historic elections for the European Parliament.
Mr Farage said that the Eurosceptic party will “give it our best shot” in next week’s by-election in Newark — an area where it finished top on Sunday night despite trailing the Tories by 25,000 votes in the 2010 general election — and was hoping to secure “a good number” of MPs when the country goes to the polls in May 2015.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg insisted he would not resign, despite pressure for a change in leader from activists horrified by a disastrous night for the party, which lost all but one of its 12 MEPs and trailed in fifth in the national vote and sixth in Scotland.
Former MP Sandra Gidley said the Lib Dem brand had become “toxic”, while Lib Dem MP John Pugh said he wanted Business SecretaryVince Cable to take over as leader, warning that a fundamental cause of the Lib Dems’ “abysmal” showing was the fact that voters were no longer willing to listen to Mr Clegg.
A rriving to address supporters at a victory party, Mr Farage made clear his eyes were on the Newark by-election on June 4, where Conservatives are defending a 16,152 majority.
Summing up the aftermath of last night's results, he said: “Nick Clegg’s in the most trouble, Ed Miliband’s in quite a lot of trouble, David Cameron’s in some trouble.
“If we were to win Newark, David Cameron would be in even more trouble than Nick Clegg.
“If we were to overturn this massive majority they have got, it would be a very hot, long summer in the Tory Party.”
A sked whether his stunning victory was the result of a protest vote, Mr Farage said: “It’s beginning to look like a permanent protest.”
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A fter votes were counted in all 11 of Great Britain’s constituencies, Ukip was dominant with 24 MEPs, including one in Wales and its f irst representative in Scotland. Its 27.49% share of the national vote was up 10.99 points from the last Euro elections in 2009, when it secured 13 seats.
It was the f irst time for more than a century that a national vote has not been won by either the Conservatives or Labour, as voters turned away from mainstream parties throughout Europe.
Ed Miliband insisted that Labour was “in a position where we can win the general election”, despite disappointing results which saw the party perform strongly in London but barely scrape into second place nationally, less than two percentage points ahead of the Tories.
With counting completed in England, Scotland and Wales, Labour had 20 MEPs and a 25.4% vote share, the Tories 19 MEPs and a 23.93% vote share, the Greens three MEPs and a 7.87% share while the Lib Dems managed a solitary MEP and 6.87% of the national vote.
The Scottish National Party held on to its two MEPs and led the pack with a 28.9% share of the vote north of the border, ahead of Labour on 25.9%, Tories on 17.2% and Ukip on 10.4%. Liberal Democrats came sixth in Scotland.
Mr Cameron blamed “deep disillusionment” with the EU for Ukip’s stunning poll victory — but again dismissed the prospect of an electoral pact with the party.
The Tory leader was coming under pressure to consider a deal with Ukip, with re-elected MEP Daniel Hannan pointing out that together the parties commanded more than 50% of the national vote.
But Mr Cameron told Radio 4’s Today programme: “Conservative candidates will stand as Conservatives, fight as Conservatives and, I hope, win as Conservatives. We are not going to be doing deals and pacts.”