Whilst the Conservatives won in the Test Valley, narrowly beating UKIP into second place, in the South East region UKIP took the honours.
Between them, UKIP and the Conservatives took 63% of the vote in the region of the total 2.43 million votes cast. The full result was:
- UKIP 751,439 votes and 4 seats
- Conservative 723,571 votes and 3 seats
- Labour 342,775 votes and 1 seat
- Green 211,706 votes and 1 seat
- Liberal Democrat 187,876 votes and 1 seat
Seats:
- Richard Ashworth (Con)
- Nirj Deva (Con)
- Dan Hannan (Con)
- Keith Taylor (Grn)
- Anneliese Dodds (Lab)
- Catherine Bearder (LD)
- Janice Atkinson (UKIP)
- Nigel Farage (UKIP)
- Ray Finch (UKIP)
- Diane James (UKIP)
One of the newly elected MEPs was Ray Finch – previously UKIP leader on Hampshire County Council.
The 46year old father of one originally hailed from Liverpool but moved south and currently lives near Havant. In May 2013 he stood and won the Bedhampton and Leigh Park seat at county.
“My first job as MEP has been to step down as UKIP leader on HCC. While I can do my job as councillor and MEP, I felt staying on as leader as well would have taken too much time” said Ray.
He explained that the last few days had been long and exhausting but he couldn’t wait to start his new position as an MEP.
So, what was the plan? To cause disruption, not turn up?
Ray laughed. “Along with my colleagues I will be spending as little time as possible in Brussels and Strasbourg but that’s because I want to use the time attending public meetings back here and reporting on what goes on at the EU“.
“We normally only get to hear what the EU does when the papers report on things like the shape of bananas for if it suits the government to blame them. I and my colleagues want to help change that“.
Ray explained that his dealings with the EU so far lead him to believe that a lot of the legislation is there to protect the big two – French agriculture and German industry – with lobbying rife and champagne receptions held most nights.
“Our policy on these is to send a member of staff to check that no UKIP MEP is at one of the receptions being lobbied” he said.
“The UK has a lot of small businesses and we want to help protect their interests as well“.
When asked about the accusations of the party being racist he pointed out that they are the only party that has a ban on members of the BNP.
“As with the other parties, we have had problems with some members and supporters making comments that we do not condone in any way. As a party we have dealt with these swiftly when they have arisen“.
Interestingly, former Labour Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said in a recent edition of Progress Online (click here) that UKIP’s pre-election poster campaign was not racist and in fact some of them reflected Labour’s policy on immigration.
“I think it’s an interesting time to be in politics” he said.
“Along with my colleagues I will be spending as little time as possible in Brussels and Strasbourg…” Well thats just great, thanks for representing me in the EU Parliament. Enjoy your €85,000pa salary.
sure he will be representing us by getting us the hell out of the EU, thats what we elected him to do. Did you expect him to become part of the problem rather than the solution????
MEP’s don’t have any power to withdraw their country from the EU. That power resides with national governments and MP’s. UKIP MEP’s are completely a contradiction in terms, they have been elected by protest vote and they are paid to represent UK interests at the EU parliament. Ray Finch says in his interview he has no intention of attending EU parliament regularly if at all. This quite frankly is a ridiculous situation and shows the utter ignorance of both UKIP and the public that have voted for them.
I really don’t like UKIP and this interview completely illustrates what a ridiculous waste of a vote this party are. He says in this interview ” along with my colleagues, I will be spending as little time as possible in Brussels & Strasbourg” he then goes on to say he will be reporting what goes on in the EU at public meetings. How does he intend to do this if he doesn’t spend anytime at the EU parliament. Absolute nonsense. A travesty of democracy that these clowns have been elected to represent us and they don’t intend to do this. What does this gentleman intend to spend his EU parliament salary on then? A disgrace. A vote for UKIP is a vote for ignorance and is wasted.
Ray Finch is my close friend and colleague so of course I am very proud of his achievements over the last 12 months, which includes successfully leading UKIP on Hampshire County Council. On Tuesday last week, the first working day for him as an MEP, he very kindly spent the day with me in Andover looking at the issues in the town which need addressing. After visiting Neighbourcare and Silver Surfers, he agreed with me that the town needs special attention. We are both totally dismayed at what has happened to Andover after decades of the Conservatives ruling TVBC. Andover desperately needs change for the good. Over the coming months Ray and I will be developing a plan to take the town forward and it is because of Ray’s commitment to Hampshire and the Southeast that he will be spending the vast majority of his time here rather than on mainland Europe. And by the way, well done Ray and UKIP.