The United Kingdom Independence Party secured victory in the West Midlands European elections last night. Reporter Phil Corrigan was at Birmingham's NEC as the results were counted

Ukip's newly elected MEP for the West Midlands, Nikki Sinclaire, said the MPs expenses scandal had been a factor in the party's success as it toasted victory across the West Midlands last night.

THE United Kingdom Independence Party won the most votes in both Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle, and came second in the West Midlands region, enough to secure two MEPs for the Eurosceptic party – one more seat than it won in 2004.

Ms Sinclaire said: "The expenses scandal has been a factor, as people have now realised the deception of professional politicians. But this isn't just a one-off. We came fourth in 1999, third in 2004, and now we've come second.

"I would implore the professional politicians to take the message from the electorate. We are supposed to be a democracy."

Ms Sinclaire's fellow Ukip MEP, Mike Nattrass, said he would give Stone businessman and Ukip activist Andrew Illsley the task of finding opportunities for Staffordshire businesses in Europe.

Mr Nattrass said: "I'm going to have to take a lot more action in North Staffordshire, and make sure that the area that put us first isn't going to be let down."

In total, six MEPs were chosen for the West Midlands region. The successful candidates join a total of 72 British MEPs in the 736-member Parliament.

Under the party list voting system, each party puts forward a list of candidates in numerical order for election.

People vote for a party, rather than a person, and the number of votes determines how many candidates from their list get in.

The recession, red tape and cross-border crime are the issues that dominated debate in the run-up to the elections.

The Conservatives won the most votes across the whole region, but still lost one of the three seats they won five years ago – mainly due to the West Midlands' representation falling from seven to six MEPs this year.

Tory MEP Phillip Bradbourn, who successfully defended his seat, along with colleague Malcolm Harbour, said the success gave them hope for the next General Election.

He said: "If you look at the results from Staffordshire in particular, where we won a magnificent victory in the county council elections, we won in Stafford, in the Staffordshire Moorlands and in Tamworth, all areas where we will want to win in a General Election.

"Labour's vote has collapsed around the country. They only received 16 per cent of the vote, which must be the worst ever. The message to Gordon Brown is for him to call a General Election.

With no local elections in Stoke-on-Trent this year, the turnout was predictably low, at only 26.73 per cent, the lowest across the West Midlands.

But it was clear that many of those who did vote had lost faith with the three main parties.

Ukip polled the most votes in Stoke-on-Trent, an impressive result considering the party's total lack of representation on the city council.

While Labour received more than 10,000 votes, it was still an embarrassing defeat in a city where they recently dominated the political landscape.

The BNP came fourth, only a handful of votes behind the Conservatives, with the Lib Dems a distant fifth.

In Stoke-on-Trent, Ukip who took 22 per cent (10,885) of the vote. They were followed by Labour on 20.5 per cent (10,144) and the Conservatives on 17.65 per cent (8,719). The BNP narrowly missed out on the title of the third biggest party in Stoke-on-Trent – they came in just behind the Tories with 17.62 per cent of the vote (8,706). The Liberal Democrats got a 9.7 per cent share (4,806).

Labour had already suffered humiliating defeats in England's local elections, losing all but three of their seats on Staffordshire County Council, and also losing control of the other three counties where they still maintained a majority.

The defeat in the European elections will no doubt result in more Labour MPs joining Newcastle's Paul Farrelly and Stoke-on-Trent Central's Mark Fisher in calling for Gordon Brown to step down.

Labour's sole remaining MEP in the region, Michael Cashman, called for the party to unite behind its leader.

Mr Cashman said: "Of course I'm disappointed that Neena Gill hasn't been re-elected, but the reality is that this was always going to be a difficult election for us, for many reasons.

"We are going down from seven seats to six, and the longer a Government is in power, the more difficult it is to keep its MEPs. There's also the effects of the recession, and the expenses scandal.

"But if we unite behind Gordon Brown we can still pull the voters back to us. The vote hasn't gone to the other main parties, it's gone to protest parties."

Lib Dem MEP Liz Lynne, who retained her West Midlands seat, said she was satisfied with her party's performance.

She said: "We wanted to fight this election on the European issues, but unfortunately, going around from area to area, all people wanted to talk about was the MPs' expenses.

"But we have received about the same number of votes as last time."

BNP European candidate Alby Walker, who also leads the BNP group on Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said he was pleased with the 17.65 per cent share of the vote his party received in the city, despite its failure to win a seat in the West Midlands.

He said: "It was always going to be difficult across the whole of the West Midlands. We are still a relatively small party, under-resourced and facing a relentlessly hostile media. I'm not surprised Ukip have done so well. The media has pushed them as the alternative following the expenses scandal, and so they have got the protest vote.

"But the people of Stoke-on-Trent have delivered for the BNP again, and it's really promising for the future of our party in the city."

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