Ukip tops polls in UK. National Front wins in France. Greek neo-Nazis secure first MEPs. This is the day Europe took a swing to the right

Nigel Farage inflicted another body blow on the three main political parties on Sunday night as Ukip scored a stunning victory in the European Parliament elections. The Tories, who came first last time with 25 seats, have suffered the humiliation of dropping to third place for the first time ever in a national election. They have secured 24 per cent of the vote so far, losing seven seats. But Liberal Democrats suffered a disastrous result, falling to an embarrassing fifth place behind the Green Party amid increasing grassroots pressure on Nick Clegg to stand down as party leader.

Across the EU, nationalist and Eurosceptic parties made big gains amid predictions that they would double their strength in the European Parliament. In France, Marine Le Pen's Front National topped a nationwide poll for the first time in its history, with the anti-immigrant party predicted to take 25 per cent of the vote and win as many as 24 seats in the European Parliament.

In Belgium, the separatist New Flemish Alliance was tipped to receive nearly a third of votes cast in the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders. In Austria, the far right Freedom Party was forecast to win a fifth of the votes.

[link to www.independent.co.uk]