Farage hails 'remarkable' UK Independence Party election results

Nigel Farage today hailed a "remarkable" night for his UK Independence Party in local council elections, which he said put them in with a chance of securing a seat at Westminster.

With many votes yet to be counted, Ukip gained 42 county council seats in England and also claimed second place behind Labour in the South Shields parliamentary by-election, while the two coalition parties suffered a drubbing.

Ukip became the second largest party in Lincolnshire, winning 16 seats and depriving Conservatives of overall control.

And the party - which won no councillors at all when the seats were last contested in 2009 - picked up 10 in Hampshire, nine in Essex, three in Gloucestershire, three in Somerset and one in Dorset.

Mr Farage told ITV1's 'Daybreak': "It's been a remarkable result for us.

"We have always done well in European elections... but people haven't seen us as being relevant to local elections or in some ways general elections.

"So for us to be scoring, on average, 26% of the vote where we stand is I think very significant indeed."

Challenged over whether Ukip were no more than the beneficiaries of protest votes against the coalition Government, Mr Farage pointed out that his party has come second in five of the last six parliamentary by-elections, claiming: "This wave of protest certainly isn't short-term - it's lasting."

Describing Ukip as "numerically" the third party in British politics, he added: "I think if we get a by-election that comes up in the next few months that is not a safe Tory or Labour seat but is a marginal, we have every chance of winning it."