Ukip and Front National lead populist earthquake

The UK Independence party and France's far-right Front National stormed to victory in European elections on Sunday night, as populist and nationalist parties across the continent dealt a heavy blow to the push for closer integration.

Nigel Farage, Ukip leader, said the result - the first time a party other than Labour or the Conservatives had won a UK national election since 1910 - represented an "earthquake". Marine Le Pen, the FN leader, said that there had been a "massive rejection of the EU", while mainstream politicians struggled to come to terms with what had happened.

Manuel Valls, the French socialist prime minister, called the FN victory "a shock, an earthquake that all responsible leaders must respond to", as President Francois Hollande brought together his key ministers for an emergency inner cabinet meeting on Monday morning to discuss the election results.

Mr Valls said the EU must react to the breakthrough by the FN and other eurosceptic parties.

In Britain, Ukip was on 27.5 per cent of the UK vote share, with Labour on 25.4 per cent and the Tories on 24 per cent. The Lib Dems were losing the battle for fourth place to the Greens, with the Lib Dems on less than 7 per cent and the Greens 1 percentage point higher.

However, Prime Minister David Cameron told the BBC that the results were a validation of his European strategy.

"I take a very clear message, which is that people are deeply disillusioned with the EU and don't feel the current arrangements are working well enough for Britain," he told Radio 4's Today programme. "They want change and that message is very well heard and understood."

Mr Cameron sought to take the focus away from Mr Farage, saying that the next year's worth of campaigning would focus instead on Labour.

The prime minister said his message to voters would be: "Do you want the Conservatives who want a referendum in Europe, or do you want Ed Miliband and Labour who want the status quo?"

Speaking on Monday, Mr Farage said: "My dream's become a reality. Despite the onslaught we faced over the last few weeeks when it was as if the whole world was against us, the British public stood firm and backed Ukip and we've won a national election. I'm over the moon.

"For too long now people have regarded Ukip as a splinter to the Tory party," he said. "What we showed last night is hat we are digging deep into the Labour vote as well."

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Across Europe populist parties capitalised on the mood of protest, with Greece's hard-left Syriza expected to emerge as victors in a country hit hardest by the eurozone debt crisis. The Danish People's party also did well. In Germany, the NPD neo-Nazi party was set to win one seat in the assembly for the first time while the anti-euro Alternative fur Deutschland took an expected 7 per cent. Austria's FPO, was set to finish third with 20 per cent - against 12.7 per cent in 2009.

The FN won 26 per cent of the vote, taking 25 of France's 74 seats. Ukip said last night it would not form a group in the European Parliament with the "extremist" French party.

A fall in votes for the Dutch far-right Freedom party (PVV) led by Geert Wilders went against the broader anti-EU sentiment.

The gains of the populists could be sufficient for Ms Le Pen to form an anti-EU group with other like-minded parties. That would give them extra funds and speaking rights to destroy the "Brussels monster".

Mirroring its success in the capital in the local election results, Labour won convincingly in London, the party's best result in an otherwise disappointing evening.

Another victim of Ukip's rise was Nick Griffin, the British National party leader, who lost his seat in the northwest.

The popular revolt against the European project - battered by years of economic crisis - will be seized on by David Cameron, prime minister, to back his claim that the EU needs to make a fresh start, with powers passing back to member states.

The soul-searching will begin almost at once, as EU leaders meet for a Brussels dinner on Tuesday to discuss the results and the potential new cast list to head the bloc's institutions for the next five years.

The centre-right European People's party, expected to emerge as the biggest group in the European Parliament, has nominated former Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker as the next European Commission president. Mr Cameron opposes his appointment.

The biggest exercise in democracy outside India saw voter turnout across Europe of about 43 per cent, little changed from the last elections in 2009 - it was up slightly at 36 per cent in the UK.

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