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ANALYSIS: Scottish And UK Independence Parties Secure Historic Wins In Euro Elections

© Flickr / Barney MossANALYSIS: Scottish And UK Independence Parties Secure Historic Wins In Euro Elections
ANALYSIS: Scottish And UK Independence Parties Secure Historic Wins In Euro Elections - Sputnik International
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United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) MEP candidate for Scotland, David Coburn – who is expected to become Scotland’s first elected representative for his party - has told RIA Novosti that despite what Alex Salmond, SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland says, this result shows that Scots are no different from people in England.

EDINBURGH, May 26 (RIA Novosti), Mark Hirst – United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) MEP candidate for Scotland, David Coburn – who is expected to become Scotland’s first elected representative for his party - has told RIA Novosti that despite what Alex Salmond, SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland says, this result shows that Scots are no different from people in England.

“We’re the only party in Scotland that is anti-European and wants to get us out,” Coburn added. “We’ve got a lot of support in Scotland and our membership had rocketed.”

Despite Ukip’s rise in support a spokesman for the anti-independence Better Together campaign, the official group leading efforts for a No-vote in the Scottish independence referendum on 18 September, told RIA Novosti there would be “no change” in allowing Ukip to join Better Together.

Professor John Curtice, who specialises in politics and elections in the UK, told RIA Novosti that whilst the result in Scotland is a good one for the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) the election of a far-right, Ukip MEP in Scotland will be seen as a blow to the campaign for Scottish independence.

“The Yes campaign hoped the election of three SNP MEPs would show how very different the values of Scotland are from those held by voters south of the border – and thus illustrates why Scotland should seek to govern itself,” Curtice said. “But the election of a Ukip MEP in Scotland will put a dent in that argument.”

“Ukip have done well, but not as well as they expected,” Curtice added.

The pro-independence, pro-EU, SNP secured overall victory in Scotland as results for the European elections indicated the party had won two of Scotland’s six MEP seats with almost 30 percent of the vote.

The far-right Ukip are expected to win their first elected representative seat in Scotland, when results are formally confirmed at 12 noon, Monday, after winning 10 percent of the vote.

The Euro Elections are the final electoral test before Scottish voters go to the polls in a referendum to be held in four months to decide whether Scotland should become an independent country.

The turn-out in the election was higher than predicted at 33 percent of the entire eligible electorate.

Jim Sillars, a former Deputy Leader of the SNP and now a political commentator and author, told RIA Novosti he wasn’t surprised by the wider result across the rest of Europe.

“It was an earthquake a long time in the making, ignored by the mainstream parties who stifled genuine anxiety about immigration with cries of "racism" when it was nothing of the sort,” Sillars told RIA Novosti.

“There has also been building up a deep bitter resentment of the Brussels elite who have pressed on with their 'project' for a Federal Europe whether people want it or not,” Sillars added.

“That elite has ruined people in southern Europe, using the euro as the instrument to forge the Federal union even if it crushed democracy and the people,” Sillars said.

Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister and leader of the pro-independence SNP, dismissed the Ukip’s electoral gains and contrasted their 10 percent share of the vote in Scotland to the 28 percent of the vote the party secured in England and Wales.

“UKIP's performance has shown the real and increasing threat to Scotland's place in the EU that comes from being part of the Westminster system,” Salmond said.

“But in Scotland UKIP have come fourth with only around a third of the vote they got in the rest of the UK, where they won the election, and only around 3% of Scotland's electorate backing them - despite the wall to wall media coverage of UKIP that has been beamed into Scotland,” Salmond added.

Responding to the wider European election result a spokesman for the SNP told RIA Novosti, "Any support for extremist parties is a worrying development and the European elections are no exception to that."

“It is the responsibility of moderate, tolerant political parties in every country to counter extremism where it occurs and that is something the SNP will continue to do in Scotland,” the spokesman added.

The big losers were the enthusiastically pro-UK Liberal Democrats, who currently share power with Conservatives at UK Government level.

Their only MEP in Scotland, George Lyon, lost his seat amid calls within his own party for party leader and Deputy UK Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, to be replaced.

The Scottish Labour Party retained its two MEP seats in Scotland with 26 percent share of the vote and the Scottish Conservatives held their single MEP seat on 17 percent of the vote.

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