Here’s how people in Huntingdonshire voted in the EU elections
More than a third of voters in Huntingdonshire backed Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party in the EU elections, a breakdown of the results has revealed.
Some 18,494 votes cast last Thursday were for the fledgling political movement, making it a clear winner among voters in the district.
The party was also the big winner across the East of England as a whole - taking three of the seven seats up for grabs.
The Liberal Democrats also fared well in Huntingdonshire, polling 11,343 votes to take second place, an increase of more than 300 per cent on their 2014 result, when they managed just 3,589. The Green Party finished third, with 6,313 votes, up from 3,397 polled in 2014.
Votes for the Conservative (5,690) and Labour parties (2,738) collapsed meanwhile, with both parties suffering with voters because of the current Westminster impasse. The Tories polled 15,335 votes in 2014, with Labour having managed 4,587.
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Of the seven seats available for the East of England, the Liberal Democrats took two, and the Green Party won its first ever seat in the region.
The Conservatives hung on to the last seat - but Labour's Alex Mayer lost out as the party failed to get enough votes to take a seat under the proportional representation system.
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The turnout in Huntingdonshire was 38.5 per cent, with 49,340 votes cast. There were 407 rejected ballot papers - almost double the number rejected in 2014 (268).
The Brexit Party will be sending Richard Tice, Michael Heaver and June Mummery to Brussels and Strasbourg from this region. The Liberal Democrat MEPs are Barbara Gibson and Lucy Nethsinga. Dr Catherine Rowett won for the Green Party and Geoffrey Van Orden retained one seat for the Conservatives.
Lowestoft fish merchant June Mummery was one of the successful Brexit Party candidates and promised to take the battle for the region's fisheries to Brussels.
She said: "We will get over to Brussels as soon as we can to get on with getting us out of Europe and getting our fishing grounds back from Europe."
While UEA Professor Dr Rowett said she was looking forward to being part of a large Green group from across the continent in the European Parliament.
"I'm hoping to go over on Wednesday, I think I can go by train and get back the same day because I've got some exams to sort out on Thursday! But this is a great day for us and very important - we have won seats in places we have never done that well before!"
And Lucy Nethsingha for the Liberal Democrats was determined to take the Remain message to Europe: "We are going to Brussels to fight Brexit and to remain in the EU, the tide is turning as these elections show," she said.
