Labour’s failure to storm ahead in the EU election results is a positive indicator for the Tories in the forthcoming General Election, Richard Gamble, chairman of the Devizes Conservative Party, has announced.
But given the seismic success of UKIP across the country – the most significant for a century — he believes the Tories do need to change the direction if they are going to stay on “the European bus”.
“Nationally, I note that Conservatives and Labour were neck and neck for second place behind UKIP,” he told Marlborough News Online. “The absence of a strong Labour showing reflects their similar failure to make progress in the local council elections in Swindon last Thursday.
“This bodes well for the General Election next year, which will now become the principal focus of Conservatives and other parties alike.
“I will be working for a clear Conservative majority so that serious negotiations can be held with Europe to find a way forward before a referendum in 2017 when the British people can decide if they want to stay in or not.
“That decision should be made on the basis of much clearer information about the impact of the EU on the UK economy and society than has been available in this election.”
And he added: “For the time being, we are still on the European bus but I, like many others, think it’s been heading in the wrong direction. A Conservative government will ask the driver to turn the wheel onto a different course.
“If that does not happen, then we must get off but, all being well, we may yet find ourselves travelling in a direction that we and many of our European neighbours really do want to go.”
Mr Gamble, who is a Wiltshire councillor, pointed out that the good news from the EU election was that the Conservatives still topped the poll in the county with 35 per cent of the vote against the 31 per cent of UKIP, who elected two MEPs.
“In the South West, the Conservative vote was down by less than two per cent, running a close second to UKIP,” he said. “This is far better than we might have feared but we lost a seat and are now down to two Conservative MEPs for the region.
“I am nevertheless delighted that Ashley Fox and Julie Girling have been re-elected because they have been outstanding MEPs taking a very active role in Europe and supporting UK interests.
“I only hope the other new members for the region will also pay attention to the day to day issues in the European Parliament that can be so important for this country and don’t just grandstand about their In or Out preferences.”
The collapse of the Lib-Dem vote nationally and regionally he found remarkable, matched by the success of the Greens in winning one of the South West seats.
“I will be interested to see if opinions are that former Lib-Dem supporters are now voting Green or if the movements are more complex than that, “ he added.
Molly Scott-Cato, the Green candidate who grabbed the seat of Lib-Dem MEP Sir Graham Watson, a member of the European Parliament since 2002, blamed the Lib-Dems for their own demise.
“Graham Watson has paid the price because of the disastrous decision by his party to enter into a coalition with the most socially destructive government we have seen in a generation,” she told Marlborough News Online.
“He has worked tirelessly for the people of the South West but could not survive the strategic mistakes of his parties leadership.”
As to her own success, she said: “I am absolutely delighted to have made history by becoming the South West’s first Green MEP. The South West has long lead the country in green developments such as renewable energy and organic agriculture.
“I hope I can now share this Green culture with other European colleagues and work in Brussels to improve the quality of life of people across the region.”
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