UKIP gaining ground in local council elections

As voters went to the polls in the UK, to vote on both local and EP elections, the UK Independence Party gained ground on the local front.

Exit polls of around 6,000 voters revealed that the Anti-EU party won support within the local elections but many voters were against leaving the bloc, even if they did not agree with the nature of Britain's ties with it.

UKIP wants an in/out EU membership referendum but has no representatives in the British parliament to press for one, while Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to hold such a vote by the end of 2017 if re-elected next year.

The surge in support for UKIP has sent ripples through Westminster, with the next general election just a year away. Nigel Farage, UKIP leader said, "There are areas of the country where we have now got an imprint in local government. Under the first-past-the-post system we are serious players."

The European election is seen as a useful test of the public mood, the last before a general election next year.