UKIP has polled the second highest number of votes in the European election in Caerphilly County Borough.
The anti European Union party gained 11,809 votes locally – mirroring its national Welsh success.
Across Wales, Labour received 28.7% of the vote with UKIP in second on 28.1%. The Tories had 17.8% and Plaid 15.6%.
Labour won 206,332 votes compared to 201,983 for UKIP, 127,742 for the Tories and 111,864 for Plaid.
This means the four parties each retain a seat representing Wales in the European Parliament. Labour has MEP Derek Vaughan, the Conservatives have Kay Swinburne, Plaid Cymru has Jill Evans while UKIP has Nathan Gill.
Mr Gill told BBC Radio Wales: “We always said we could win here in Wales. That’s what we strove for, that’s what we set our target for and we were literally just 4,350 votes short of actually beating Labour here in Wales.
“We are over the moon.
“The people of Wales have spoken and they are as Eurosceptic as people are in England or Scotland.”
Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood AM said: “I’m pleased that in a difficult electoral context, Wales returned its most effective representative to the European Parliament. The context of this election resulted in Plaid Cymru having to work considerably harder than other parties to get our message across to the people. I am proud of the teams of dedicated party members who worked hard across the country to spread Plaid Cymru’s message of hope.
“I also thank those who cast their vote for Plaid Cymru and for Wales on Thursday. We will now continue to further Wales’ interests in the European Parliament.”
Across the UK, UKIP secured 27.5% of the vote beating Labour who had 25.4% of the vote. The Conservatives had 23.94% share of the vote.
Provisional result for Caerphilly County Borough:
Britain First – 482
British National Party – 568
Conservative Party – 3,434
Green Party – 1,281
Labour Party – 14,253
Liberal Democrats – 671
NO2EU – 170
Plaid Cymru – 5,392
Socialist Labour Party – 298
The Socialist Party of Great Britain – 49
UK Independence Party – 11,809
Number of spoiled votes – 87
Not a bad result for one of “the smaller parties” Caerphily Observer!
Apparently, according to a FB post by a Plaid member who was at the count, these results are not just for Caerphilly but include other areas nearby. If it was just Caerphilly, UKIP would be slightly ahead.
Either way, it’s an excellent result for UKIP and hopefully they win a few MP’s in 2015. Four party politics can never be a bad thing.
Plaid Cymru polled 14% of the vote in Caerphilly. Is this the first time they’ve been behind their average Welsh share of the vote? ever? Worrying times for Plaid in Caerphilly.
According to results statistics only 29% of those registered to vote in Caerphilly actually bothered themselves to cast their vote – so 71% couldn’t care less if their country is ruled from Brussels or Britain, or if that terrorist next door can’t be deported back to where they came from because the court of European human rights won’t allow it.
The reason why people don`t vote is simple, it is the abject failure of politicians, at all levels, from local Councillors to AM`s and MP`s to engage with their constituents unless an election is looming, and unless that engagement is instigated by the people seeking a public role and aspiring to become a public representative, then I do not see how they have the brass neck to complain when people do not vote, it is a `chore` and can be taken or left untaken, the inspiration has to come from the requester.
The sad fact is that all Councillors and AM`s and MP`s are second raters voted in by a minority of the electorate, we therefore then really do get what we deserve.
Arthur has hit the nail on the head. Then, a party like UKIP comes along led by Farage. Despite his privileged upbringing he likes to be seen socialising in a pub and talking to everyday people. He answers questions directly and uses language the majority would understand. He doesn’t waffle on avoiding the questions. Voters feel they can connect to him. His party bases everything around the two biggest issues I.e. Immigration and the EU (according to polls) The other parties largely avoid these issues. UKIP gains an increasing following.
In response, the main parties say they understand but also claim the public wants them to follow the course then are taking. Nothing changes. It’s sad as the main parties genuinely believe the public likes the stance they are taking (the official poll by the EU shows the majority of Britain want to leave and 86%, according to another poll! support UKIP’s call for a visa system similar to Australia’s).
The electorate become disillusioned and don’t vote. This results in government being elected by the diehard minority and a few swing voters whilst the majority just grumble
I would add to this that Nigel Farage, Paul Nutall and even Godfrey Bloom, who has been sent to the naughty corner, actually answer the questions addressed to them. The main players in the other parties do not.
Your (correct) point about ridiculing potential UKIP voters has really dealt the political establishment a blow. Calling the voters racist fruitcakes, or bigots like former Premier Brown, does not gain votes. Watch Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem politicians ‘pull jibs’, as we say around here, when a UKIP representative speaks on BBC Question Time. They think that this is funny, they think that they are superior because they only associate with like minded people.
This election proves that voters think this behaviour is neither clever nor responsible. The voters then went on to route the over confident, crass, arrogant politicians that believe that they know best. UKIPs success is based upon listening to the concerns of voters and producing a coherent set of policies.
The Labour Party used to have views representative of a cross section of voters, there were Labour people for and against European integration and there was real debate within the party. If they return to this, healthy, situation by 2015 they will walk into government. If they do not they will be smashed by the Tories.The Tories, of course, are not going to give the people an ‘In out’ referendum, the voters will supply the ‘wrong’ answer.’
Richard is correct of course, and until elected Labour representatives undertake a meaningful and honest engagement with citizens at all levels they will not regain the ground needed to Govern the UK, and, like Clegg and his Lib Dems they may even continue to bleed support of the grass roots Labour voters to the benefit of UKIP, even in Wales dare I say.
Voting is not a chore, it is a hard earned privilege and should not be taken for granted. People in our civilised society have the right and moral obligation of choosing which member of government that they want. Voting ensures that your option is taken into account, if you do not vote then your concerns do not matter at all. People should get out and vote for who they think will serve them best not sit on their backside and let somebody else make the decision for them, people died fighting for the privilege to place a cross on a piece of paper, voting is important, less than a hundred years ago women did not have the right to vote, today many people across the world are still denied a vote. Emily Davison did not believe voting was a chore, her death like many others means that today we are fortunate enough to have the right to vote.
Voting is a `chore`, whichever way you judge the rights to vote and elect our representatives into office, it is still a distraction and a exercise the majority of citizens do not wish to be part of. it is therefore a `chore` to them.
Dean is correct, but Milliband and Camaron will not see that the people have spoken out against their particular party positions. and Clegg is in real danger of sounding like a lunatic in his continued denial that his party is NOT on track to win back all its losses at the general election, and, surprisingly, nobody is putting him right, and everyone can see that his party is on the edge of a cliff toppling towards political oblivion.
The recent election was a real kick in the teeth for Milli and Cam and both their parties, the easiest way for Labour to gain the high ground would to simply offer the UK a referendum on in or out vote of the EU.
They will not do that of course and that inaction will result in a cull of MP`s in the general election, the opinion polls and their in house statistical number crunchers are WRONG. and whatever the statistic say about UKIP only getting one or two seats in the next election, UKIP will continue to pick up support at a pace never seen before by a political party in this Country, this is something never seen by generations of politicians and they do not know how to defeat it.
Role on the UKIP train if only to expose the weaknesses of public engagement by the Labour party, in particular, as it presupposes to be the party of the people.
It is a disgrace for somebody who lives in a free society to claim that voting is a chore when there are millions of people across the world who are willing to fight and die for this chore, take away your right to vote and you’d soon complain that it’s not fair but perhaps that’s what they want here in the peoples republic of Wales..the majority of people don’t vote because they are lazy, can’t be bothered, couldn’t care less, but they’ll whine and moan about whoever is in power, whine about the taxes and benefit reform, johnny foreigner taking all the jobs and the price of fuel but if folk can’t be bothered to vote then they should keep their whining to themselves.
I agree that ‘it is a disgrace’ that most peole do not vote but I also agree with Arthur that most people see voting as a chore.
I have written, many times, in Caerphilly Observer to voice my concern that people do not vote anymore. Unfortunately just about all politicians never mention this problem, with the exception of the times when their party does not do well.
Watch out for the older parties saying that the massive increase in votes for anti EU parties is not really legitimate because of low turnout. Despite the fact that turnout in this election is the same as the last.
With regard to the process of voting – I am certain that if people could vote via their phones/laptops etc you would see a huge uptake in voting. There is technically no reason why the electorate could not be given this choice – and I am amazed that it’s not been given more consideration. As the above statistic of 29% shows the current system is not working.
The reason for ignoring some form of electronic vote, in my opinion, is that most politicians do not care what the turnout is, as long as their particular party does well or appears to have a reasonable chance of doing so prior to the election.
It has become a priority for parties to make sure their ‘core vote’, which is members and long term sympathisers, go out and vote. They really do not care very much about low turnout, hardly ever mention it.
A problem with online voting is cost. You would need servers, cooling, encryption, salt and hashing for password databases etc… It’s more expensive than the traditional way (online would come as an extra cost too). You could rent server space but the company has power to manipulate figures.
You make some vey good points Dean but I still believe the real reason for not exploring other voting methods is that low turn out just does not matter to the political parties.
I very much regret that people did not endorse the AV system. It is not perfect but does allow people to cast a vote with a higher probability of that vote counting for something and also preserves the link between the person elected and their constituency.
The first past the post suits the established parties at the expense of newer parties or independents. Imagine a General Election using AV with UKIP now, firmly, a force. What an interesting election that would be.
Paul; you are wrong again, voting is chore for at least 55% or so of the population, FACT, that`s why they don`t vote, you appear to be getting personal in thinking I support that position, in fact, I consistantly say that I dont, the fact however remains that those who do not vote consider it an incumberence, FACT. I have exercised my right to vote in EVERY election of any sort for the past 40 years. I happen to think everyone should do so, but, in our society, in which you and I live, to vote, remains a matter of choice, who to vote for remains a matter of choice, as does the right not to vote for ` any other above`. That`s life Paul..