MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Farage and the UKIP in course for a 'shockwave' victory in European elections

“The people's army of UKIP have spoken tonight and have delivered just about the most extraordinary result in British politics for 100 years.” (Pic BBC)

The UK Independent Party, UKIP, is course for an emphatic victory in the European elections in the UK - with leader Nigel Farage promising to use it as a springboard for next year's general election.

 Labor's vote is up significantly up on 2009 but it is vying with the Tories for second place. The Lib Democrats have come fifth behind the Green Party in most areas and have lost all but one of their seats.

Only Scotland, London and Northern Ireland have yet to declare.

The BBC are predicting that the result in Scotland will be SNP on two seats, Labor on two seats, the Conservatives with one seat and UKIP with one seat, meaning the anti-EU party is expected to win at least one seat in every region of Great Britain.

The full Scottish result will be known at noon on Monday, as the Western Isles does not count votes on a Sunday.

Labor will be hoping for a repeat of its strong showing in the local elections in London, which could secure second place overall for Ed Miliband's party, but the result has been delayed by problems at the Tower Hamlets count.

Counting in Northern Ireland begins later on Monday.

• UKIP has topped the poll in six of the nine regions to have declared so far, with their strongest performance coming in the East Midlands, where their vote was up 16.5%

• Nigel Farage's party has made 10 gains so far and has 22 MEPs

• Labor topped the poll in Wales, the North-West of England, its strongest showing so far with an increase of 13.5%, and the North-East of England and has made five gains so far. The party has returned 14 MEPs

• The Conservatives have lost five seats so far and have returned 16 MEPs

• The Lib Dems have lost eight seats so far but avoided a humiliating wipe-out by winning a single seat in the South-East of England

• The Green Party have got two MEPs so far, gaining one seat in the South West at the expense of the Lib Dems

• There were two sets of elections on Thursday. The results of the local elections in England and Northern Ireland are already known.

In his victory speech at the South East of England count, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said: “The people's army of UKIP have spoken tonight and have delivered just about the most extraordinary result in British politics for 100 years.”

He said the three main parties in Britain had led the country into the Common Market but had “twisted and turned” over an in/out referendum on EU membership.

“The penny's really dropped that as members of this union we cannot run our own country and crucially, we cannot control our own borders.”

Far from being confined to the centre right of British politics, UKIP had also bitten into old Labor heartlands, he said. “We're genuinely a United Kingdom Independence Party. Our people's army will go from here to Newark and move on to the general election…. You haven't heard the last of us.”

Roger Helmer, UKIP's candidate in the forthcoming Newark by-election, was elected as the party's leader candidate in the East Midlands.