Comment on the European election results

Last night, six MEPs were elected to represent the “South West” – two UKIP, two Conservatives, one Labour and one Green. The Liberal Democrat MEP lost his seat, while the Conservatives also lost one MEP.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that I voted Green at this election and I would like to congratulate Molly Scott Cato on her election.

The full result in Cornwall - about one-tenth of the constituency - was as follows:

1. UKIP – 53,943 (up from 39,954 in 2009)

2. Conservative Party – 37,698 (down from 46,589)
3. Liberal Democrats – 17,840 (down from 29,436)
4. Green Party – 16,398 (up from 13,361)
5. Labour Party – 16,122 (up from 8,483)
6. An Independence from Europe – 2,530

7. English Democrats – 1,323 (down from 1,781)

8. BNP – 1,106 (down from 5,118)

Obviously Mebyon Kernow was not standing due to the nature of the constituency, which stretched to Wiltshire and also included Gilbraltar. Based on the results of the last election, we estimated that MK would have needed to poll over 90% of the Cornish vote to win a seat but suggested that it might be that every single vote in Cornwall might not be enough.

The reality is that in the 2014 election, a total of 146,960 valid votes were cast in Cornwall, while the Lib Dems failed to secure a seat after polling 160,376 votes across the “South West.”

It is difficult to speculate how MK might have polled in such an uncertain political atmosphere, and we must focus on those coming elections in which we will be standing in the near-future. This starts with the Cornwall Council by-election contest at Illogan.