With 63 of 69 seats declared:
As Mark Mardell writes:
It’s an important result. As a whole it confirms the mood of the British electorate towards the EU. It is also significant in terms of its impact on the Conservatives. It is pretty clear if you compare the local elections with the Euros that the Conservatives lost votes to UKIP. They want those votes back in time for a general election. So if there was ever any argument for them soft-pedalling their hard line on the EU it’s gone. Those who’ve argued for a range of policies, pulling out of the centre-right group, arguing for a referendum, for a new relationship with the EU, will have their hand strengthened.
via BBC – Mark Mardell’s Euroblog. Mardell also writes of the EU-wide failure of social democracy, a failure which should surprise no one familiar with the political economy of freedom and equality before the law.
