The anti-European UK Independence Party (UKIP) was celebrating its best ever result in a parliamentary poll on Friday after winning almost 22 percent of the vote in a by-election.
The opposition Labour party held the seat in Rotherham, northern England, in Thursday’s vote but UKIP saw a huge surge in its support to 21.79 percent to finish second.
“Whichever way you look at it, UKIP is on the rise,” said the party’s leader Nigel Farage, one of UKIP’s 12 members of the European parliament.
“The political establishment is just going to have to wake up to the fact that UKIP is here and here to stay as a significant and rising mainstream part of British politics.”
The Rotherham by-election, which was sparked by the resignation of Labour MP Denis MacShane over an expenses row, also saw voters hammer the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties who share power in London.
The Tory candidate finished fifth and the Lib Dem candidate eighth, behind the far-right British National Party and the marginal Respect party.
The coalition parties also fared badly in two other by-elections on Thursday in Middlesbrough, northeast England, and Croydon North in south London, which were both held by Labour following the deaths of their respective MPs.
Although the Tories came second in Croydon they slumped to fourth in Middlesbrough. The Lib Dems held onto third place behind UKIP in Middlesbrough, but finished fourth behind UKIP in Croydon, where they lost their deposit.
UKIP’s campaign in Rotherham was boosted by a row this week over the Labour-run local authority’s decision to take three children away from their foster parents because the couple were members of UKIP.
UKIP campaigns for Britain’s exit from the European Union and a freeze on immigration into the country.
It has yet to win a seat in the House of Commons but national polls show its support has increased significantly in recent years.
Britain's UKIP toasts best-ever parliamentary result
