Ukip in shock Scotland win: Nigel Farage's party gain foothold north of Border
NIGEL Farage's Ukip won its first ever seat in Scotland last night in a major humiliation for rivals.
The anti-EU party stormed to victory across the UK as it made a historic breakthrough in the European Parliament elections.
In Scotland Alex Salmond defeated his Labour rivals - but failed in the battle for a third European seat.
The SNP is on course to win two of the six MEP seats, with two for Labour and one for the Conservatives.
The Liberal Democrats appeared to have lost their Scottish MEP, following a total collapse their support
Ukip's David Coburn is expected to be its first Scottish representative at Brussels.
The shock result will make it difficult for Mr Salmond to argue that Scotland and England have 'different values' ahead of September's independence referendum.
Mr Coburn said: "This result says people in Scotland are as worried about the same things as everyone else in the rest of the United Kingdom.
"We all have the same problems that need to be resolved and, quite frankly, Mr Salmond seems to think that Scotland is so different from everywhere else - well, it's not."
Ukip's shock breakthrough gives the Scottish independence campaign a serious problem, he said.
"Ukip are not going to sit down and be quiet like all the other parties," he added.
This result says people in Scotland are as worried about the same things as everyone else in the rest of the United Kingdom
A total of 31 out of Scotland's 32 council areas declared overnight. Voter turnout was 33.5 per cent.
The SNP had 386,193 votes, ahead of Labour who came second with 346,377.
The Conservatives were in third place with 230,569, while Ukip came in fourth with 139,687.
The Greens beat the Liberal Democrats into sixth place, with the parties winning 107,805 and 95,076 votes respectively.
The results so far give the SNP 28.9 per cent of the vote ahead of Labour on 25.9 per cent, and the Conservatives on 17.2 per cent.
Ukip secured 10.4 per cent of the votes, ahead of the Scottish Green Party, who secured 8.1 per cent, while the Liberal Democrats were sixth with 7.1 per cent.
But Mr Salmond said the poll was a "remarkable result" and a "real vote of confidence" in the Nationalists, after seven years in government.
He added: "It's a question of whether the SNP will get a third seat out of six or whether Ukip will get one seat and fourth place in Scottish politics.
"I hope that we manage to keep Ukip out of Scotland.
"But there's a difference between a party getting perhaps under 10 per cent of the vote in Scotland and over 30 per cent in England."
Scottish Labour deputy leader Anas Sarwar said: "We are pleased that our positive and energetic campaign, making the case for Scotland working in partnership with our neighbours across Europe, has made sure we have retained our two MEPs and increased our support.
"After knocking on thousands of doors over the last few weeks, speaking about the issues that matter, we have closed the gap on the SNP and moved ahead in some key areas."
Tory candidate Dr Ian Duncan said his party had succeeded in increasing its share of the vote, as he warned against relying on Ukip's MEPs.
He said: "A vote for Ukip is frankly a message but a wasted vote nonetheless. They are on probation right now here in Scotland... they have got to make sure they do the job they are elected to do."
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said it was "not a big surprise" that George Lyon had failed to be re-elected to the European Parliament, saying his party was continuing to "pay the price" for being in government with the Tories at Westminster.
Lead Green candidate Maggie Chapman said: "While I am personally disappointed at falling just short of election, I am also delighted that it looks like our sister party in England will increase its number of Green MEPs and that, across Europe, Green MEP numbers are rising."
