In Conclusion, UKIP Was Extremely Successful in the 2014 European Elections

The success of UKIP

There is plenty of evidence in the sources which show the success of UKIP. Source A quotes the UKIP leader Nigel Farage who argued that following the 2014 European Election, UKIP had become “a truly national force” and that it’s excellent performance was an “earthquake in British politics”. It goes on to point out that the UKIP vote increased from 2.49 million to 4.37 million – a huge increase. This is supported in Source B were we can see that in GB excluding Scotland, UKIP’s support increased by 11% and they gained 11 additional MEPs, meaning that it was the most successful party following the election. Furthermore, Source C shows the election results in Scotland where UKIP’s share of the vote increased by 5.2% and they gained an MEP. This links to Source A where it tells us that UKIP’s performance improved in Scotland where it gained its first ever Scottish MEP.

In conclusion, UKIP was extremely successful in the 2014 European Elections.

The success of other parties

The sources show limited success for parties other than UKIP. Source A points out that Labour’s performance at the election improved and they beat the Conservatives to second place. This is supported in Source B where we can see that Labour’s share of the vote increased by 9.7% and they gained 7 MEPs. In contrast Source A also refers to the disastrous performances of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. In particular, the Lib Dems lost 10 of their 11 MEPs and this is supported in Source B where we can see that their share of the vote decreased by 6.9%. Furthermore, the Conservatives lost 7 seats and their share of the vote also declined. Lastly, Source C shows that the SNP and Labour continued to dominate and that the Lib Dems lost their only seat and this is supported in Source A which points out that the SNP and Labour returned the same number of MEPs and UKIP had success had the Lib Dems expense.

In conclusion, Labour were successful at the European elections although the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats performed very poorly.

Overall Conclusion

Overall, the 2014 European Election saw huge changes in UK representation in the European Parliament. UKIP’s support increased substantially making it the biggest single UK party in the European Parliament. This was at the expense of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats who performed very poorly. Labour also performed well, gaining 7 seats.