The Independent reports:
A jubilant Nigel Farage has declared “the Ukip fox is in the Westminster hen-house”, after two of the largest parties in Westminster began losing control of councils as a result of gains for the Ukip leader’s “people’s army”.
The surge in support for Ukip led Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander to comment the country appeared to have entered a period of “four-party politics” as Farage’s party shrugged off a campaign blighted by controversies to win seats in Conservative and Labour strongholds.
In a sign the party could do well in elections to the European Parliament too, Ukip won more new seats than any other party in local elections in England, according to partial results from around a quarter of councils.
Reacting to the first confirmed results, a “very pleased” Farage insisted Ukip are set to be “serious players” at the general election.
“There are areas of the country where now we have got an imprint in local government,” he said. “Under the first-past-the-post system we are serious players.”
Mr Farage predicted his party could hoover up 200 extra council seats by the end of the day – and said European election results due Monday could be even better following what he described as “a very good night for Ukip”.
In a forceful message, he warned his opponents that over the course of the summer Ukip will choose constituencies to target, and “throw the kitchen sink at them”.
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