EU Vote

Here's an interesting statistic from Bexley, an outer London borough. UKIP did well. Their vote equalled that of the combined votes which were cast for the BNP, No2EU and English Democrats in the 2009 election. All those parties lost nearly all of their votes.

Scotland :_

SNP. 2
LABOUR 2
Conservative 1
UKIP 1
LIB DEMS -1

Lib Dem loss to UKIP.

The rise of the right all over Europe is truly frightening. With Marine Lepen doing so well in France too (:

Yes, granjura, frightening is the right word. I was almost in tears last night when I heard that an MEP whom I know quite well had to concede that he had been voted out. His has been a strong voice in defence of the environment and and advocate of many environmental initiatives. I fear that those who have taken his place will be less enthusiastic, if, indeed, they ever bother to take their seats! Will the environment be the victim of the rise of the right?

I am sure it will Anno. It makes me weep for the future of my grandchildren.

Sorry for those who are presently weeping.

I feel quite positive about recent outcomes.

Same here, petallus. I'm certainly not frightened!

Mamie and others living in France now- with Marine Lepen and the National Front getting 25% of the vote and becoming the number 1 party of France- how can the country go forwards now? It must be truly worrying and so much more.

Petallus- how can the recent move to the right all over Europe realy be seen as 'positive'- what doe you mean by positive???

The European Union in its present state and moving seemingly inexorably like a colossus on its own agenda is what frightens many people and makes them weep.
That is why many have voted as they have done - in an attempt to make these arrogant people stop and listen to what many have been crying out for a long time but which has been falling on deaf ears.

However, political pundits have been saying today that it will make no difference to the ultimate aims of the commissioners and bureaucrats.

WHY? The sheer arrogance of these people who think they can do no wrong is breathtaking. It is now time they took notice of the message sent out to them by a good proportion of the public.

If they do not, it shows how out of touch they are with those they consider to be 'little people' whose views they disregard because they know best.

The EU is becoming a self-serving Empire, intent on serving its own power-hungry bureaucracy, and empires have come and gone over the millennia.

Just watched Nick Clegg interview on Sky News.

Poor bloke looked shattered. He had either been crying or had not slept a wink for days.

For the French GN's 'it is being reported' Hollande has held an emergency meeting and one of his moves will be to lower tax for the low to middle wage earner. Might start doing some sensible things, he can't do much worse than he has over the last few months can he.

Poor Nick. Probably be networking later trying to get a fat cat EU job. He will do well back there, he's always right.

I agree Roseq.

I watched the Daniel Gros interview, Centre for European Policy Studies. He said the EU Commission/Parliament will not alter, why should it! The European Elite, Bubble , are so convinced they are right and the 'little people', that's the voter, are wrong they have to do as they say. The will for further integration and a Federal Europe is all the gravy train have their sights on.

I'm not surprised by the outcome of the far left/right groups gaining seats, the EU Commission/Parliament have shown basically contempt for anybody who voiced an opinion of opposition. You could argue it's an own goal and perhaps they did deserve it. Again the question is, at what cost????

Germany seems to be the only country not moving to the far right at the moment... perhaps because they know what happens when ...

Mind you, Austria has been there before too- and???

Is it correct that immigrants who came here one, two or three generations ago vote Labour? (MiceSelf's post above)
I would doubt that my immigrant friends have ever or would ever vote Labour. They are the sort of immigrants people always say they welcome here, extremely hardworking and aspirational.

Are you really saying that you can't be 'extremely hardworking and aspirational' and not vote labour? Truly? I am stunned.

Granjura

Hasn't Germany had 6 seats go to the Alternative for Deutschland Party/NPD. Something like that, not sure?

Actually Spain hadn't gone to the right either Granjura; they know what happens there too.
The things that worry me the most are that the conditions seem very similar to those which led to the rise of fascism in the twenties and thirties; high unemployment, poverty, alienation and widespread political apathy, to name but a few. Secondly that if the right manages to influence policies on energy and climate change (UKIPs policy is shocking), then I think it will be almost impossible to reverse what is happening to the planet.
I don't know about France. Given the low turn-out, I think only about 11% of the electorate voted for the National Front. It may just be a massive protest against Hollande that will not be sustained, or it may be the beginning of something very frightening. On verra. But I visited one of the war cemeteries today and wondered what the soldiers would have thought.
I also don't really understand all this "arrogant, juggernaut EU riding roughshod over the little people" stuff.
A few concrete examples would be interesting.

I'm with Granjura. Since when was it not possible to be hard-working and aspirational and vote Labour? Would be interested to know your criteria and how I'd apply them to my own family.

As with you Mamie the FN was marginally beaten by the Socialists in our commune.
I'm just hoping that the people of France will wake up to the possibilities of what could follow - as in the presidential election of 2002 (when the second vote was between J. Chirac and LePen snr.)
We had recently arrived in France and I remember a worker in M. Bricolage saying to us, "what kind of country is this - we have to choose between a convicted criminal (corruption) and a nazi for President?"

Mamie

I think the National Front in France had 25% of the vote.

Roughshod over the little people. Perhaps Ireland having to vote until it said yes?

Yes Spain proves not to be so eurosceptic but the 2 main parties, went down from an 80% share of seats to 49%. Spain has 54 seats in the EU, of which the two main parties held 47. Now they have lost 17 seats to the far left and Catalonian Separatists. There lies another problem for Spain which might get some momentum.

Writing as the daughter of an immigrant, Rosequartz, I can only say that your immigrants are very different to mine.

But then, given your description of the immigrants you know, I suppose you would describe me and those I know as lazy and unaspirational. We have always been on the left and voted for a range of parties

But then, I'm thinking of the only sensible sentence to emerge from the lips of a UKIP councillor.

'Londoners have not turned out to back UKIP because the capital's population is too well educated'. Suzanne Evans conceded that 'we haven't really got our message across for this reason.

Yes the NF did have that proportion of the actual vote POGS. I very carefully said 11% of the electorate. The Couldn't Be Bothered to Vote party was in the majority.

The only good thing to come out of the NW Euro election has been the annihilation of Nick Griffin and the BNP. However...

I think the constituencies are so huge for these elections that it is hard to generalise. Also, really, how can we generalise about "immigrants".
For all we know people in inner cities were less likely to vote UKIP because they live in vibrant mult-ethnic Britain and are more tolerant than those who live in the shires. Or for all we know lots of immigrants voted for UKIP because they do not want more people allowed in.
Wales is a single constituency with 4 seats. About 4 million population. It includes rural areas where there are no immigrants to speak of beyond maybe the owners of the local takeaway. We've been welcoming immigrants for a long time - into Cardiff docklands(the likes of Shirley Bassey and Colin Jackson, very much Welsh). Italian immigrants in the industrial revolution opening cafes, Chinese and other asian immigrants opening restaurants. And there are a lot of English immigrants - particularly retiring to the N Wales coastal strip. We've had shed loads of EU funding. Yet, mysteriously, quite a few Welsh people vote UKIP.

Micelf I have to stand alongside you in the lazy and uninspirational group as I've always voted left of centre, including Labour. I did think that my education and teaching career might have counted for something but clearly years of work are negated by the act of voting Labour. Maybe the immigrant strand in the family explains that since my great great gd came over from Ireland. Oh no, wait a minute maybe he was the right kind of immigrant who did produce a hard -working and inspirational family who did achieve. So confused!