:00:27. > :00:32.UKIP are celebrating a strong showing
:00:33. > :00:36.in the local elections in England, picking up around 25 percent of the
:00:37. > :00:41.UKIP has yet to take control of a council, but it has already exceeded
:00:42. > :00:45.its target of 80 new councillors, with only a third of authorities
:00:46. > :00:48.It's been a mixed night for Labour, whilst the Conservatives
:00:49. > :00:52.and the Liberal Democrats have both seen their share of the vote fall
:00:53. > :00:56.Early estimates suggest a turnout of about 35 per cent.
:00:57. > :01:00.This morning Nigel Farage said "the UKIP fox was now in the
:01:01. > :01:12.Let's have a look at where we are so far.
:01:13. > :01:16.And you can see that UKIP has made a net gain of 86 seats,
:01:17. > :01:21.Essex is the county where UKIP did particularly well ` gaining 31 seats
:01:22. > :01:27.in Basildon, Southend, Thurrock, Castle Point and Harlow.
:01:28. > :01:38.It also did well in the north ` making 10 gains in Rotherham.
:01:39. > :01:43.Labour have gained 102 seats so far, the Conservatives have lost 97
:01:44. > :01:52.In terms of councils ` Labour are making limited progress,
:01:53. > :01:56.The Conservatives have lost control of eight authorities ` including
:01:57. > :02:00.And the Lib Dems have lost control of Portsmouth `
:02:01. > :02:10.Our political correspondent Chris Mason reports.
:02:11. > :02:14.Sunderland prides itself on the speed of
:02:15. > :02:17.its vote counting and if that means legging it across the count centre
:02:18. > :02:27.Yes, some local authorities are a tad more laid`back
:02:28. > :02:30.So far, those wearing purple rosettes are
:02:31. > :02:45.Really good, solid performance from UK and across the country. That is
:02:46. > :02:53.the big thing, knowing big Tory, Labour areas we scoring
:02:54. > :02:59.consistently. Very pleased. We're far from complacent. We recognise
:03:00. > :03:03.the alienation and anger expressed by people voting for UKIP last
:03:04. > :03:07.night, but we are well placed to do the right things in the coming 12
:03:08. > :03:11.months to win the general election. Of course for people voting for
:03:12. > :03:18.UKIP, there are big issues of concern that need to be addressed,
:03:19. > :03:22.whether it is immigration, welfare reform or are relationship with the
:03:23. > :03:28.The Lib Dems are getting another kicking, but they have had quite
:03:29. > :03:30.a lot of practice putting a brave face on it.
:03:31. > :03:33.What are looking at is how well we are going to do
:03:34. > :03:37.in the seats where we are strong, where we run the local council or
:03:38. > :03:42.This is what the middle of the night looked like in
:03:43. > :03:45.Birmingham, but there is plenty more scuttling around, number crunching,
:03:46. > :04:01.We will be speaking to Michael Gove in a moment. We heard from Nigel
:04:02. > :04:13.Farage earlier. Very good, a good response across
:04:14. > :04:18.the country, we're scoring consistently in the 20% area. You
:04:19. > :04:25.say across the country, but there is a failure to break in London. London
:04:26. > :04:28.is our weakest area, so much of politics is about voluntary
:04:29. > :04:32.structures, and our voluntary structure is 12, 18 months behind
:04:33. > :04:37.other parts of the country. Do not get too skewed by the London
:04:38. > :04:40.results, most of the wards have three members, and in most, we only
:04:41. > :04:47.fielded one candidate. We only fielded one candidate. We're but not
:04:48. > :04:51.as much as the suggest. Some people said that you would get 80 seats,
:04:52. > :04:55.how many do you think you will get now? We have done that already, it
:04:56. > :05:03.looks like it would be double what the experts predicted. It is a very
:05:04. > :05:06.good night for UKIP. Some Conservatives are calling for a
:05:07. > :05:17.packed with macro in the next general election, what you think?
:05:18. > :05:20.There are to conversations going on, one was where the Labour leader in
:05:21. > :05:25.Swindon were saying, we have been hurt by UKIP, another was happening
:05:26. > :05:30.in Rotherham for UKIP won ten seats and Labour won six seats. In the
:05:31. > :05:34.West Midlands, the Labour Party said UKIP is splitting the vote and
:05:35. > :05:39.letting the Tories them, so this idea that UKIP vote just hurts the
:05:40. > :05:46.Tories, that will be blown away by this result. No pact with the
:05:47. > :05:54.Tories? They have always viewed as being members of the lower orders,
:05:55. > :05:59.so that is totally unlikely, but if we were to poll UKIP voters and
:06:00. > :06:06.said, do you want a pact with the Conservative Party, only a very
:06:07. > :06:09.small percentage would say yes. Are you a force to be reckoned with for
:06:10. > :06:18.the general election? If you look at how Paddy Ashdown took the Lib Dems
:06:19. > :06:22.fought in the 1992 election, you can see last night, there are bits of
:06:23. > :06:25.Essex, bits of Rotherham, there are areas cost the country where we now
:06:26. > :06:29.have an imprint in local government and we are under the first past the
:06:30. > :06:34.post system, so we are serious players, so over the summer, we
:06:35. > :06:38.would choose our target constituencies and threw the kitchen
:06:39. > :06:43.sink at them. What you think this means for the results for the
:06:44. > :06:47.European elections? I would have thought that a lot of people would
:06:48. > :06:51.still vote for the local councillor because they have represented them
:06:52. > :06:56.for the last 20 years, but with the second vote, they may have voted
:06:57. > :07:00.UKIP in the local election, so at the vote across the country, without
:07:01. > :07:07.wishing to count any chickens before they are hatched, it looks pretty
:07:08. > :07:12.good. So you are happy this morning? Yes, my colleague Winston McKenzie
:07:13. > :07:17.said the UKIP Fox was in the Westminster hen house and it feels a
:07:18. > :07:22.bit like that. Let's go to UKIP headquarters. Nigel Farrage said
:07:23. > :07:30.that they were serious players, it makes everything unpredictable if we
:07:31. > :07:34.are into four party politics. Yes, the classic phrase about the UKIP
:07:35. > :07:39.Fox being in the Westminster henhouse, he has more than ruffled a
:07:40. > :07:43.few feathers, he has forced the other established parties to think
:07:44. > :07:48.very seriously about the kind of threat that UKIP is posing now and
:07:49. > :07:53.will pose at the next general election. What we have seen
:07:54. > :07:57.overnight, UKIP have made significant gains in Essex in
:07:58. > :08:00.particular, costing the Conservatives control of councils
:08:01. > :08:11.like Basildon and Thurrock and Castle point, they made significant
:08:12. > :08:13.gains in places like Rotherham and Portsmouth. They have not done as
:08:14. > :08:16.well as they would have liked in London. They do not control any
:08:17. > :08:18.councils yet. They have certainly now established themselves as a
:08:19. > :08:26.party that they have to be reckoned with. We heard spokespeople, shadow
:08:27. > :08:30.ministers, accepting that they will have to respond to what has
:08:31. > :08:34.happened, the why voters have turned to UKIP. The difficulty for the
:08:35. > :08:39.Labour Party, the Conservatives and the Lib Dems is that they may well
:08:40. > :08:43.be able to come up with some tougher policies on Europe, immigration,
:08:44. > :08:47.they might be able to toughen the language, but what would be
:08:48. > :08:51.difficult to counter is this sense that UKIP have come from outside,
:08:52. > :08:57.that they are the voice of the people that had been forgotten by
:08:58. > :09:00.the established parties. The difficulty for the established
:09:01. > :09:07.parties is how they respond to that. They know that Nigel Farage
:09:08. > :09:11.has managed to tap into a sense of discontentment, disenchantment that
:09:12. > :09:15.is going to be very, very difficult indeed to counter, but that is
:09:16. > :09:20.certainly the effect of the results we have seen overnight, and of
:09:21. > :09:22.course, UKIP could enforce its strength when we get the results
:09:23. > :09:30.from the European elections on Sunday night. Questions for all of
:09:31. > :09:37.the main parties, we both speak to Michael Gove in a moment, it on your
:09:38. > :09:40.screens, you can see that the count is continuing, and the current
:09:41. > :09:45.account is that the Conservatives have lost 97 councillors so far in
:09:46. > :09:50.the counting overnight, and they have lost control of eight councils,
:09:51. > :09:55.Karel was talking about Basildon, UKIP doing well in Essex, that has
:09:56. > :10:01.hurt the Conservative vote there. Let us speak about the ramifications
:10:02. > :10:06.with Michael Gove. Good morning. In terms of the results so far, one
:10:07. > :10:13.third so far, your party has had a bit of a kicking. Yes, it is
:10:14. > :10:16.disappointing, I'm very sorry about the fate of a number of very
:10:17. > :10:19.hard`working councillors that have lost their seats. And
:10:20. > :10:26.congratulations to those that have won. There is a clear message.
:10:27. > :10:32.People are angry about an umber of issues. They want answers. I hope in
:10:33. > :10:36.the next 12 months that people will recognise the concerns are being
:10:37. > :10:40.addressed by the government, but it is important that we demonstrate in
:10:41. > :10:44.the next 12 months that we are taking these concerns seriously and
:10:45. > :10:47.redoubling efforts to make sure that whether it is immigration or a
:10:48. > :10:53.relationship with Europe that we take a sufficiently tough line. I
:10:54. > :10:56.take it you do not dismiss this as a protest vote, it is possible that
:10:57. > :11:07.people have looked at various policies on offer and thought, no,
:11:08. > :11:10.thank you. It is a clear expression of anger and concern and we have to
:11:11. > :11:17.respect the way that people have voted this way, and people would
:11:18. > :11:20.have voted for Labour in far larger numbers if they agreed with them,
:11:21. > :11:24.they have not, they have chosen to vote with UKIP, and given the issues
:11:25. > :11:28.they have campaigned on like immigration and as they see it, the
:11:29. > :11:32.misuse of taxpayer 's money allocated to welfare, these are
:11:33. > :11:36.issues that are absolutely at the heart of the government's reform
:11:37. > :11:40.programme, but it is clear that we have got to demonstrate in the next
:11:41. > :11:45.year that we are doing more to deal with these concerns that people have
:11:46. > :11:52.seen so far. Does it show you cannot win outright in 2015? I don't think
:11:53. > :11:55.so, it is the case that in the next general election, the Tories could
:11:56. > :11:59.win out the right, and when people choose to vote UKIP they are saying
:12:00. > :12:04.that they are not happy at the moment with what they see around
:12:05. > :12:07.them, but at the election, there will be a straightforward choice
:12:08. > :12:10.between David Cameron and Ed Miliband for Prime Minister, and
:12:11. > :12:14.there is no evidence of a grand swell of enthusiasm for Ed Miliband,
:12:15. > :12:24.there is evidence that the issues that people are being concerned
:12:25. > :12:26.about are being addressed by David Cameron. In terms of UKIP and then
:12:27. > :12:32.taking votes from the Conservatives, white you think that has been? Do
:12:33. > :12:37.people just not listen to the Prime Minister about him speaking on the
:12:38. > :12:42.dangers of UKIP, or was he not robust enough taking a Nigel Farage?
:12:43. > :12:46.It is important to recognise that they have taken votes in Rotherham
:12:47. > :12:50.as well as Essex, across the country they did well, so it lets us know
:12:51. > :12:55.that you cannot say that you kick voters are the Tory party or the
:12:56. > :13:02.Labour Party or the Labour Party are know why they are taking votes? I
:13:03. > :13:05.know why they are voting UKIP, but it is important to suggest that it
:13:06. > :13:12.is not any particular party that is voting out. You're being damaged, if
:13:13. > :13:17.you look at what happened in Essex. We will see in due course, but the
:13:18. > :13:24.evidence is that Labour has been just as badly damaged, because one
:13:25. > :13:33.year before the next election... You say to that principally the concerns
:13:34. > :13:39.of voters, potentially, it is about looking at a packed with UKIP is
:13:40. > :13:45.that worth looking at? No, your questions are having a Westminster
:13:46. > :13:50.consistence, how can you say to these people, come back, you belong
:13:51. > :13:52.to us? I think that is wrong. Voters do not belong to political parties,
:13:53. > :13:55.the do not belong to political parties,
:13:56. > :14:01.government belongs to voters and we need to listen to these concerns.
:14:02. > :14:07.People are tired of the coalition, they think you have run out of
:14:08. > :14:12.steam. We looked at the issues. This are the issues affecting people.
:14:13. > :14:15.These specifics about any government, the coalition
:14:16. > :14:19.government, which drives people to vote for UKIP, that is concerned
:14:20. > :14:26.about immigration, the European Union, the next generation being
:14:27. > :14:29.prepared for a competitive world, the economy, nobody would disagree
:14:30. > :14:32.that those are the issues. If they are the issues driving voters
:14:33. > :14:47.stories UKIP, the question for us is, are we in each of those areas
:14:48. > :14:51.meeting the concerns people have? We need to make sure that we offer
:14:52. > :14:56.people a renegotiated position in your up, so we can say that this is
:14:57. > :15:04.a Europe that we feel the people of Britain can be confident. We are the
:15:05. > :15:08.only party capable of delivering a referendum. Thank you for your time.
:15:09. > :15:10.The position from the Conservatives. We have been looking at Labour
:15:11. > :15:15.through the course of this morning, because they have made gains, but
:15:16. > :15:21.perhaps not the gains they really need if they are going to succeed,
:15:22. > :15:25.with about a 3% rise in from the last general election. Let's head to
:15:26. > :15:31.one of the areas they need to do well in. What is the picture there?
:15:32. > :15:37.It has been an incredibly disappointing night here for Labour.
:15:38. > :15:42.It was one of the key places it said it was going to do well. The
:15:43. > :15:47.expectation was there but it did not get the results it was expecting. Ed
:15:48. > :15:52.Miliband was campaigning every hard here at the beginning of the week.
:15:53. > :15:56.He was speaking about the minimum wage and education, but that speech
:15:57. > :16:00.did not make the impact I think he hoped it would. They needed three
:16:01. > :16:05.seats to win here but they only got two, and it was not just this area
:16:06. > :16:08.that Labour did not get the results it was hoping for. Also in
:16:09. > :16:16.Staffordshire we are expecting a control when will stop it did not
:16:17. > :16:20.happen in Gloucester either. `` a controlled win. More interestingly
:16:21. > :16:24.is UKIP, which you have been hearing a lot about this morning, they did
:16:25. > :16:34.incredibly well across the region. And oddly they gave seven seats. ``
:16:35. > :16:40.seats. It was not all good news for them. Coventry, Stratford and
:16:41. > :16:43.Gloucester, this places, UKIP did not make any gains.
:16:44. > :16:57.Thank you very much. Paul Nuttall is the Deputy Leader of
:16:58. > :17:09.UKIP and joins me now. We are hearing about gains in the
:17:10. > :17:14.North. Is this a sensible goal? We are pretty much on target. We will
:17:15. > :17:19.more than achieve our aim. On the whole it is looking good. To you
:17:20. > :17:27.think that you have laid to the fears of people in any way,
:17:28. > :17:29.prejudice, fear? What we have done is highlighted some possibly
:17:30. > :17:34.unpalatable facts, but they are faxed after all. Our local
:17:35. > :17:38.candidates have gone out and campaigned on local issues, and we
:17:39. > :17:45.expect to go on and get a good number of counselors today. We are
:17:46. > :17:49.the outsiders. Do you think you will really change things at local
:17:50. > :17:55.level? Under one knows about your policies on immigration and social
:17:56. > :18:10.services. `` everyone. Even those people who are planning to vote for
:18:11. > :18:13.you. The party is doing really good for communities. `` really well for
:18:14. > :18:20.communities. Those who are elected today will do a great job as well.
:18:21. > :18:24.What they are hoping to do is get a real base in local government before
:18:25. > :18:31.we go on and target the general election. Throughout the course of
:18:32. > :18:37.the campaign, we solve racial slurs, homophobic comments. Let me ask you,
:18:38. > :18:41.because normally that's damages parties, why do you think you have
:18:42. > :18:47.been immune to that sort of damage? I think it is because people have a
:18:48. > :18:51.none the fact that this is not just normal scrutiny. This has been a
:18:52. > :18:57.witch hunt. 17 counselors up and down the country have been arrested,
:18:58. > :19:02.charged or convicted in the past week alone with all sorts of
:19:03. > :19:04.misdemeanors. You don't read about it in the national newspapers,
:19:05. > :19:08.because of that is UKIP, everyone would know about it, and people are
:19:09. > :19:13.seeing that this has been a witchhunt. Because of the British
:19:14. > :19:19.spirit and because Britain likes the underdog, they can see that UKIP
:19:20. > :19:22.have been bullied and a lot of people have voted as a result. We
:19:23. > :19:30.were speaking to the Education Secretary earlier. Are you now
:19:31. > :19:37.targeting Labour voters, working`class voters? Is that a
:19:38. > :19:43.danger to Labour? Labour have lost 5 million voters since 1987. A lot of
:19:44. > :19:49.these voters are potential UKIP voters and we have started to target
:19:50. > :19:57.that more, and we have taken seats in the West Midlands. We saw a
:19:58. > :19:59.decade or so with the Green Party making gains in the Westminster
:20:00. > :20:08.parliamentary seat and then hitting a plateau. Nigel Farage was talking
:20:09. > :20:11.about holding the balance of power in 2015 at Westminster. Is that
:20:12. > :20:16.realistic at all? The Green Party never reached the percentages that
:20:17. > :20:19.we are reaching at the moment and I don't think they have ever had the
:20:20. > :20:25.number of counselors that we will have after today. Come Monday, we
:20:26. > :20:30.could have gone on and won a national election. We are not part
:20:31. > :20:35.of the establishment. I think this is the most exciting political
:20:36. > :20:41.movement since the birth of the Labour Party. Thank you for joining
:20:42. > :20:44.me here at Westminster. Let's head away from here. Let's go
:20:45. > :20:47.to my colleague you has been speaking to voters in Swindon, where
:20:48. > :20:54.the Conservatives have increased their majority. Good morning. The
:20:55. > :20:59.Conservatives `` the Conservatives have increased their majority. The
:21:00. > :21:04.turnout has been pretty poor, around 36%. Let me introduce to one of the
:21:05. > :21:12.people who did vote. That morning. Who did you vote for? I've voted
:21:13. > :21:17.Labour. We have several good candidates for the Swindon area and
:21:18. > :21:22.they were very hot and community issues and I think that is
:21:23. > :21:33.important. What is important to you? `` to it you? Local issues are
:21:34. > :21:36.important. Why is it important for you to vote? It is important for
:21:37. > :21:44.everyone to vote and guy was shocked at the turnout. `` I was shocked at
:21:45. > :21:50.the turnout. We have 200,000 people in the Swindon so I do not know why
:21:51. > :21:54.the turnout was so low. How do you think the political parties can get
:21:55. > :21:59.more people to the ballot box? They have got to get right to the heart
:22:00. > :22:03.of what people want and how counselors are perceived. There is a
:22:04. > :22:08.lot of perception that perhaps the councils are not well behaved and to
:22:09. > :22:14.not act in the community interest and they like the sound of their own
:22:15. > :22:19.voice. What are your feelings about Europe? I am not sure if we should
:22:20. > :22:22.stay in. We pay them an awful lot of money and there are arguments as to
:22:23. > :22:27.whether or not we should stay in, but I think there should be a
:22:28. > :22:31.referendum on that, and we will see where it goes from there. Thank you
:22:32. > :22:35.so much for joining us this morning. Interestingly, people will be
:22:36. > :22:40.watching Swindon very closely ahead of the general election next year,
:22:41. > :22:45.because it is seen as a bellwether constituency. For the past 30 years,
:22:46. > :22:47.the MPs here have been from the same party as the Prime Minister.
:22:48. > :22:52.Let's crunch some numbers. With me is Professor Tony Travers,
:22:53. > :23:01.Local Government Expert We have had just over a third. What
:23:02. > :23:09.do you make of it so far, the big picture? You are UKIP taking voters
:23:10. > :23:13.from? Certainly the Labour Party in the Conservative Party. The
:23:14. > :23:20.Conservative Party in some parts of the country, clearly in ethics, and
:23:21. > :23:24.the Eastern fringe of London, but UKIP is also doing well against
:23:25. > :23:27.Labour in the north and places where Labour is dominant it is clear that
:23:28. > :23:33.UKIP are going into second place or in some councils winning, which is
:23:34. > :23:36.remarkable. All of these numbers coming in all through the course of
:23:37. > :23:46.this morning and this afternoon. For each of the main parties, Tory,
:23:47. > :23:54.Labour, he `` Liberal Democrats... If the Labour Party cannot win so
:23:55. > :23:58.many seats that would be bad. For the Conservatives, they are going to
:23:59. > :24:03.lose seats, and the question is, how many? If they lost more than 300
:24:04. > :24:07.that would be bad for them. The Lib Dems might lose half the seats they
:24:08. > :24:12.hold. It looks as though that might happen. In the end, you are looking
:24:13. > :24:16.at grand tallies and comparing what happens against expectations, but
:24:17. > :24:20.UKIP is the interesting one. Nobody knew quite how to predict them and
:24:21. > :24:27.they are going to exceed even the most exotic expectations. It is a
:24:28. > :24:31.real conundrum. In terms of understanding why, with all of the
:24:32. > :24:35.controversies, and I do not need to list them, but despite all of that,
:24:36. > :24:39.they seem immune to any kind of electoral damage. It looks to me as
:24:40. > :24:45.if this is because they are a party which, by their mistakes, make them
:24:46. > :24:48.look authentic. All of the other parties are carefully managed and
:24:49. > :24:53.everything they say is cautious. When UKIP says and does things and
:24:54. > :24:57.it looks a bit jagged and odd, it just looks like they are real, and I
:24:58. > :25:02.think that authenticity is something that helps them. Is that sustainable
:25:03. > :25:06.into next year given we have had two sets of elections where they have
:25:07. > :25:09.done extremely well? Is that sustainable into 2015, because they
:25:10. > :25:16.are talking about breaking the mold. For party politics makes everything
:25:17. > :25:19.very, very collocated. It really does. What is interesting about
:25:20. > :25:28.these local elections, certainly in England, if UKIP do really well, as
:25:29. > :25:33.they appear to be giving, it suggests they might start to pick up
:25:34. > :25:36.some general election seats. They will do well in the euros. It is
:25:37. > :25:41.much easier to win seats there. These elections do tell us something
:25:42. > :25:46.about UKIP's potential to win next year. They may not win lots of seats
:25:47. > :25:52.but they might win some. Thank you very much for you the `` thank you
:25:53. > :25:57.very much. We were in Croydon a little while ago. Let's go back to
:25:58. > :26:01.our correspondent. Take us through it.
:26:02. > :26:07.There has been a handshake here from the Conservative leader of ``
:26:08. > :26:15.Conservative leader. Celebrations all around, reflected across
:26:16. > :26:22.London. They also one in Hammersmith. A swing of 11 votes. To
:26:23. > :26:27.complete an impressive evening, they took Redbridge, we have heard about
:26:28. > :26:31.for the first time ever in history. The Conservatives have taken
:26:32. > :26:35.Kingston from the Liberal Democrats. The Lib Dems only had two counsels
:26:36. > :26:43.going into this and now they only have one, everyone expected
:26:44. > :26:47.something from UKIP out east. We are awaiting results. Ten councils have
:26:48. > :26:52.been counting overnight and the rest will come in over the course of the
:26:53. > :26:58.day. The picture here, reflected across London, Labour celebrations.
:26:59. > :27:04.Thank you very much. Let's give you a few pointers. More results coming
:27:05. > :27:06.in right through the course of this morning. A real flurry in the
:27:07. > :27:09.afternoon. And you can find council results
:27:10. > :27:12.for your area, and across And later today David Dimbleby will
:27:13. > :27:19.have more coverage of the local council elections,
:27:20. > :27:22.as ballots continue to be counted. That's in a special programme,
:27:23. > :27:40.Vote 2014, on BBC Two and the Monday marked coverage later in the
:27:41. > :27:49.day. `` plenty more coverage later in the day. Back to you in the
:27:50. > :27:54.studio. Oddly a third of the seats, counted so far. `` only a third. Act
:27:55. > :28:00.with Matthew soon. The US Coastguard searching for four
:28:01. > :28:04.sailors from a missing British yacht says it will call off their search
:28:05. > :28:10.tonight, if nothing is found. Relatives of the yachtsmen say they
:28:11. > :28:14.remain hopeful and have told the BBC that the RAF Hercules involved
:28:15. > :28:17.in the search will continue for another 24 hours after the US
:28:18. > :28:25.coastguard search finishes. The search goes on for four men who
:28:26. > :28:29.went missing a week ago. These pictures were taken aboard one of
:28:30. > :28:35.the many private yachts, as crews have abandoned their own journeys to
:28:36. > :28:41.join the search. Searching alongside them, a US, Canadian and British
:28:42. > :28:45.vessels, of long `` along with merchant ships. The US Coastguard
:28:46. > :28:51.has given their teams just one more day to find something or the search
:28:52. > :28:58.will be called off. They also confirmed that debris found earlier
:28:59. > :29:02.did not belong to the yacht. Unfortunately, we have had no
:29:03. > :29:06.sightings thus far and have concluded that none of the debris or
:29:07. > :29:13.objects located during the search have correlated to the missing
:29:14. > :29:18.vessel. Andrew Bridge, James Mail, Paul Gosselin and Steve Forren where
:29:19. > :29:30.returning from an Tiga. A US Navy warship and the US
:29:31. > :29:35.Coastguard ship are just the latest vessels to join the air and sea
:29:36. > :29:50.search. The US Coastguard says it is keeping the families of the men
:29:51. > :30:00.quickly informed. Thailand's military chief has declared himself
:30:01. > :30:05.in charge after a military coup. More than 100 political figures have
:30:06. > :30:10.been summoned to army headquarters and a number of pro`government MPs
:30:11. > :30:14.have gone into hiding. Has been widespread international
:30:15. > :30:18.condemnation of the action. Scientists in the United States say
:30:19. > :30:23.they have moved a step forward in creating a vaccine for malaria. They
:30:24. > :30:29.studied a group of children in Tanzania as part of the research.
:30:30. > :30:33.More than 600,000 people die of malaria each year. More details from
:30:34. > :30:35.Westminster shortly, but first, let us get the weather forecast from
:30:36. > :30:45.Carol. Good morning, how wet started the
:30:46. > :30:51.day, some of us will have some bright spells and some sunshine. See
:30:52. > :30:58.a bit of rain. An area of low pressure. As we go through the rest
:30:59. > :31:02.of the day, the rain across the North of England will fragment and
:31:03. > :31:06.turn more showery and will brighten up across parts of Scotland and
:31:07. > :31:12.Northern Ireland with some showers. The rain will persist in the north
:31:13. > :31:16.and in the south`west. It would be gusty on the coastline. Temperatures
:31:17. > :31:21.in the sunshine reaching 17 degrees to 19 degrees. This evening and
:31:22. > :31:31.overnight, showers will fade away, but low pressure dominating. It will
:31:32. > :31:37.not be a cold night. Into the bank holiday weekend, mixed sums it up.
:31:38. > :31:40.Some showers, some sunshine, feeling pleasant in the sunshine. More
:31:41. > :31:51.details on the BBC website. Good morning,
:31:52. > :31:53.this is BBC News with Matthew Early results
:31:54. > :32:02.from the local elections in England The party has taken around 25 per
:32:03. > :32:08.cent of the vote so far where it's standing, taking seats
:32:09. > :32:13.off the Conservatives and Labour. There are areas
:32:14. > :32:16.across the country where now we have an imprint in local government `
:32:17. > :32:19.first past the post system ` What we will do this summer is
:32:20. > :32:23.choose our target constituencies UKIP's success comes
:32:24. > :32:27.at the Conservatives expense In Essex they lose control
:32:28. > :32:30.of four councils. Labour is making gains,
:32:31. > :32:32.but the Liberal Democrats brace themselves for heavy losses
:32:33. > :32:40.as they see their vote fall. The US Coastguard will suspend
:32:41. > :32:43.the mid`Atlantic search for four British sailors
:32:44. > :32:46.if nothing is found by tonight. The RAF will continue
:32:47. > :32:50.for an extra 24 hours. Thailand's senior politicians are
:32:51. > :32:53.ordered to report to army chiefs a Scientists in the United States say
:32:54. > :32:59.they're a step closer to developing an effective vaccine against
:33:00. > :33:02.malaria. Several billion barrels of oil is
:33:03. > :33:05.held in shale rocks under in parts of Kent, Sussex and Hampshire,
:33:06. > :33:09.according to a report due out this morning. Extracting it would involve
:33:10. > :33:29.the controversial fracking process. all the time. One third of the
:33:30. > :33:37.results in so far. UKIP are celebrating
:33:38. > :33:39.a strong showing in the local elections in England,
:33:40. > :33:43.picking up around 25 percent of the UKIP has yet to take control of a
:33:44. > :33:48.council, but it has already exceeded its target of 80 new councillors,
:33:49. > :33:51.with only a third of authorities It's been a mixed night for Labour,
:33:52. > :33:55.whilst the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have both
:33:56. > :33:59.seen their share of the vote fall Early estimates suggest a turnout
:34:00. > :34:03.of about 35 per cent. This morning Nigel Farage said
:34:04. > :34:06."the UKIP fox was now in the Let's have a look at where we are
:34:07. > :34:23.so far. And you can see that UKIP has made
:34:24. > :34:27.a net gain of 89 seats, Essex is the county where UKIP did
:34:28. > :34:32.particularly well ` gaining 31 seats in Basildon, Southend, Thurrock,
:34:33. > :34:34.Castle Point and Harlow. It also did well in the north `
:34:35. > :34:40.making 10 gains in Rotherham. Labour have gained 105 seats so far,
:34:41. > :34:46.the Conservatives have lost 97 In terms of councils `
:34:47. > :34:52.Labour are making limited progress, The Conservatives have lost control
:34:53. > :34:57.of eight authorities ` including And the Lib Dems have lost control
:34:58. > :35:27.of Portsmouth ` Those are the results so far, let's
:35:28. > :35:33.speak to Sir Malcolm Bruce. A difficult night for you. It was,
:35:34. > :35:38.losing seats is always painful especially for councillors that did
:35:39. > :35:43.a good job. In government you have to take difficult decisions. At the
:35:44. > :35:47.moment, people are seeing the benefit of the sustainable recovery
:35:48. > :35:53.we put in place. We had good results in key seats with sitting MPs. We
:35:54. > :35:59.have increased our vote in places like Dorset, Colchester, Eastleigh,
:36:00. > :36:05.Sutton, Birmingham, Redcar, these are seats with Lib Dem MPs were the
:36:06. > :36:09.lead has held up or improved. You lost in Kingston, Portsmouth, over
:36:10. > :36:18.100 councillors have lost their jobs, isn't that complacent? Your
:36:19. > :36:21.vote is down 13%. I accept that. It is disappointing. In Kingston and
:36:22. > :36:26.Portsmouth there were difficult circumstances involving local
:36:27. > :36:31.personalities, local elections have a local effect. In Sutton, we
:36:32. > :36:38.increased our majority, Eastleigh was a seed that UKIP said would be a
:36:39. > :36:42.target, Nigel Farage spoke about standing there. We have seen off the
:36:43. > :36:48.UKIP challenge. White you think that you are being punished? We have the
:36:49. > :36:52.ability to reach the entire population with our record in
:36:53. > :36:59.government. We have increased the tax threshold to ?10,500. I have
:37:00. > :37:02.stood your wits interviews for the last two or three years, and you
:37:03. > :37:08.have said that for the last few years, the trouble is, people are
:37:09. > :37:12.not heard it. `` I have stood here doing interviews. People have heard
:37:13. > :37:17.it and responded to it very positively, the problem in areas
:37:18. > :37:19.where we will less well organised, we had the full wrath of
:37:20. > :37:28.appointments with stronger organisation. What if Harriet Harman
:37:29. > :37:34.is right on the tube betrayed your supporters and backed the Tories try
:37:35. > :37:41.to the hills, that would show that Lib Dem supporters have backed away.
:37:42. > :37:44.Labour have not got a chance to win the next election, that is just
:37:45. > :37:49.bitterness because the Labour Party thinks it is our job to support
:37:50. > :37:53.them. Our job is to do the right thing in the national interest, and
:37:54. > :37:56.our policies on tax, apprenticeships, supporting
:37:57. > :38:00.disadvantaged children, they are progressive, liberal policies that
:38:01. > :38:05.are popular but they are understood and labour should be supporting
:38:06. > :38:14.them, not criticising them. Lynne Featherstone, your colleague, she
:38:15. > :38:19.said that people support UKIP. Well, Nigel Farage has got a blog is
:38:20. > :38:26.personality, people support that, but in places like Europe, building
:38:27. > :38:29.a strong economy, having an economy where people can get on, that is
:38:30. > :38:34.something the Lib Dems have achieved. Who knows the many
:38:35. > :38:41.hundreds of councillors he will you lose by the end of the day, and the
:38:42. > :38:45.Lib Dems, even if he clings on, Nick Clegg is finished as a leader?
:38:46. > :38:51.Absolutely not, we joined the coalition, we voted it as a party,
:38:52. > :38:57.we supported as a party, Nick Clegg has led us with resilience and he
:38:58. > :39:01.will follow it through. This is a partial wipe`out. We have to wait
:39:02. > :39:05.for the next election to the people want to build on the recovery we
:39:06. > :39:09.have built or blow it away. When they realise what we have done, they
:39:10. > :39:16.will support us, and today where they have heard of, they have. Let
:39:17. > :39:20.us turn to Labour, they made gains, not particularly heavy gains, not
:39:21. > :39:33.done as well as they are some of them hoped Graham Stringer, he had
:39:34. > :39:39.tacked his party. `` he attacked his party, he outlined what he thought
:39:40. > :39:42.his party had not done better. These local elections are against the
:39:43. > :39:46.background of the European elections, and it is just not an
:39:47. > :39:54.attractive policy to say, vote for us, trust us, but we do not trust
:39:55. > :39:58.you to vote in a referendum when 80% of the electorate want that. The
:39:59. > :40:01.campaign itself has not been professional, the centrepiece for
:40:02. > :40:07.this campaign has been the cost of living, and yet, Ed Miliband did not
:40:08. > :40:11.know his own cost of living, he did not know how much you are spending
:40:12. > :40:16.on shopping. Well, really, people around him should have said that
:40:17. > :40:19.when David Cameron was attacked as a when David Cameron was attacked as a
:40:20. > :40:23.posh boy not knowing the price of milk, that we should not fall into
:40:24. > :40:29.that trap, we should know the price of everything, and that is
:40:30. > :40:34.unforgivably unprofessional. Graham Stringer last night on the election
:40:35. > :40:38.programme, critical of the strategy adopted by his own party and some of
:40:39. > :40:43.the latest information on the Labour Party, they have made some gains,
:40:44. > :40:47.but the point of Graham Stringer and other backbenchers is that perhaps,
:40:48. > :40:51.only one year from the general election, they should have had a
:40:52. > :40:56.much stronger performance, about 3% up in terms of the figures from the
:40:57. > :41:00.last general election, and many within the party, four years into
:41:01. > :41:04.austerity had hoped for much stronger gains and we have seen the
:41:05. > :41:08.UKIP threat to the Conservatives, but they have also been taking
:41:09. > :41:14.voting away from Labour in the north. A short time ago, I spoke to
:41:15. > :41:20.Douglas Alexander and he insisted that despite the headline figures,
:41:21. > :41:26.Labour had done well in a lot of marginal seats. We are looking at a
:41:27. > :41:30.four party contest, as has been reflected overnight, but we need to
:41:31. > :41:34.look at not just the headlines about UKIP, and they will command
:41:35. > :41:38.headlines, but we need to look at the deeper story. The general
:41:39. > :41:45.election will be decided by some marginal seats and if we look at the
:41:46. > :41:48.progress Labour is making in a range of seats... Thurrock is second on
:41:49. > :41:55.your list and you have not got overall control. If you look at
:41:56. > :42:01.Carlisle in the north, Cambridge, Hastings, other places like Lincoln,
:42:02. > :42:08.we have seen significant gains, Labour are making significant
:42:09. > :42:13.strides in those seats. Rotherham, Swindon, you should be streets
:42:14. > :42:21.ahead. In Swindon, we are making strides, in that sense, what have we
:42:22. > :42:25.learned in the course of the last few hours and overnight, of course
:42:26. > :42:28.the rest are more votes to be counted. But in these key
:42:29. > :42:34.battlefield, Labour is picking progress. In parts of the country,
:42:35. > :42:42.we are seeing the Labour the Lib Dems and the Conservatives. We're
:42:43. > :42:47.joined by the chair of the Local Government Association, we have not
:42:48. > :42:54.had the results from Kensington and Chelsea, how disappointing that you
:42:55. > :42:58.have lost Hammersmith and Fulham for the Conservatives. It is very
:42:59. > :43:06.disappointing. I was part of creating a close working
:43:07. > :43:09.relationship with Hammersmith and Fulham and Westminster and
:43:10. > :43:14.Kensington and Chelsea. A lot of this is down to the Charing Cross
:43:15. > :43:19.Hospital being the major issue. A local issue. Duping people have
:43:20. > :43:24.voted on local issues or is it punishment for government and the
:43:25. > :43:28.records of the last couple of years? This is the real difference and in a
:43:29. > :43:31.few days time, the Euro elections, I know nothing about the people I
:43:32. > :43:36.voted for in the Euro elections, they have not been on my doorstep,
:43:37. > :43:40.but these elections across the country are real, visceral, they are
:43:41. > :43:44.fought on things that matter. In some cases, local issues like
:43:45. > :43:48.hospital changes that are absolutely live and can change like they did in
:43:49. > :43:52.Hammersmith and Fulham and in Kingston which has gone to the
:43:53. > :44:03.Conservatives. That is the difference. That is the strength of
:44:04. > :44:05.local government. I am one of the few people today on your programme
:44:06. > :44:07.that is actually standing for election. We hear a lot from
:44:08. > :44:09.politicians talking about local government further knowledge is
:44:10. > :44:14.minimal. For the local government, this is live, day`to`day. It seems
:44:15. > :44:18.to be that so many people are disenchanted with all of the main
:44:19. > :44:27.parties, has that been one of these themes that you have felt on the
:44:28. > :44:31.doorstep? What I'd did find, including people
:44:32. > :44:37.supporting me directly, is that they were supporting me at a local level
:44:38. > :44:42.but that they were going to support UKIP in the European elections. They
:44:43. > :44:48.are sending messages. They know it impacts on their daily lives. With
:44:49. > :44:53.your chair hat on in terms of the Local Government Association am a we
:44:54. > :44:58.have had four years of extraordinary cuts within local government. The
:44:59. > :45:04.challenges for all of these new governments is that there are heavy
:45:05. > :45:09.cuts coming. That is the reality. And those coming into power might be
:45:10. > :45:13.on a platform of and they will have to join the real world and make
:45:14. > :45:19.those difficult decisions that being in power actually means. The next
:45:20. > :45:25.few years are going to be very tough and we will have to think about how
:45:26. > :45:29.we provide essential services in a very different way. We have been
:45:30. > :45:37.keeping public confidence. People's confidence in local government has
:45:38. > :45:43.been rising. Thank you for coming and talking to us. To get back to
:45:44. > :45:46.one of the headline stories, the success of UKIP, because they have
:45:47. > :45:52.already exceeded their target. They had a target of 80 new counselors
:45:53. > :45:57.and they have already exceeded that. No control of any council, but that
:45:58. > :46:02.was not part of the objective, and you have heard Nigel Farage talking
:46:03. > :46:08.about spending the summer building on that, and his hope is to get
:46:09. > :46:11.people in it there, the building behind me,, 2015 and the Westminster
:46:12. > :46:14.elections. Nigel Farage spoke to my colleague Paul Lambert earlier, and
:46:15. > :46:21.he of course was pleased with the results so far. So far, so good.
:46:22. > :46:27.Really solid performance from UKIP right across the country. Big Labour
:46:28. > :46:33.areas, we are scoring consistently up in the high 20%. There seems to
:46:34. > :46:38.be a failure to break through in London. London is our weakest part
:46:39. > :46:42.of England. So much of politics is about voluntary structures, and our
:46:43. > :46:47.voluntary structure in London is behind where it is in other parts of
:46:48. > :46:52.the country. Also, don't get too skewed by the London results. Most
:46:53. > :46:58.of the wards are three member wards. We are a bit behind in London
:46:59. > :47:01.but perhaps not quite as much as the figures might suggest. Many
:47:02. > :47:05.forecasters were saying you were going to get 80 seats. How many do
:47:06. > :47:10.you think you will get? We got that already. It looks to me like we will
:47:11. > :47:13.get somewhere near double what the experts predicted. Which ever way
:47:14. > :47:21.you cut it, it is a good night for you kept `` UKIP. There were two
:47:22. > :47:25.conversations going on last night, one in Westminster, going on about
:47:26. > :47:30.Tori and peas who still see politics in the old`fashioned divide, and the
:47:31. > :47:35.other conversation in Swindon, where the Labour leader said, we have been
:47:36. > :47:42.hurt by UKIP. Another conversation was going on where UKIP 110 seats
:47:43. > :47:51.and Labour won 11 seats. In the West Midlands, the Tories were splitting
:47:52. > :47:54.the votes with UKIP. This idea that the UKIP vote hurts the Tories, they
:47:55. > :48:01.will be blown away by these results. Note tore packed then? UKIP have
:48:02. > :48:05.been members of the lower orders so I would have thought it was
:48:06. > :48:10.extremely unlikely. Electorally, I'd bet you that if we pulled UKIP
:48:11. > :48:14.voters and said, do you want a tax with the Conservative Party, you
:48:15. > :48:20.would find a small percentage that would say yes. `` a packed. Are you
:48:21. > :48:24.a force to be reckoned with for the general election? If you look at the
:48:25. > :48:30.92 election, the Lib Dems were taken from being a tiny party to getting
:48:31. > :48:36.as high as 62 seats and they did that. You can see from last night,
:48:37. > :48:40.there are areas across the country where now we have an imprint in
:48:41. > :48:46.local government and the are under the first past the post system and
:48:47. > :48:48.are serious players. Over the summer we will choose our target
:48:49. > :48:52.constituencies and for the kitchen sink at them.
:48:53. > :48:55.constituencies and for the kitchen sink `` throw the kitchen sink. What
:48:56. > :48:59.do you think this means for the results for the Euro elections?
:49:00. > :49:03.There will be quite a lot of people out there who will still vote for
:49:04. > :49:08.their local counsellor because they will have represented them for 20
:49:09. > :49:12.years. In the second vote they will vote for UKIP. Looking at the vote
:49:13. > :49:15.shares across the country, and without wishing to count any
:49:16. > :49:25.chickens before they have hatched, it looks pretty good. My colleague
:49:26. > :49:26.Winston McKenzie said that the UKIP Fox was in the Westminster henhouse
:49:27. > :49:31.and it feels like that. With me now is Matthew Goodwin,
:49:32. > :49:46.co`author of the book about UKIP, What is your take from what you have
:49:47. > :49:50.heard so far about the results? It reflects a party strategy of
:49:51. > :49:56.emulating the Liberal Democrats, but also doing quite well so far in
:49:57. > :50:00.Labour areas, and we know from the research that UKIP is the most
:50:01. > :50:04.working`class electorate in British politics, and this is a reflection
:50:05. > :50:09.of its appeal. It is anything but just a second home for
:50:10. > :50:13.Conservatives. We know, if you look over the last four or five years,
:50:14. > :50:17.UKIP has changed the political debate in terms of issues that are
:50:18. > :50:21.being talked about. Do you think, as a result of these results, they can
:50:22. > :50:27.actually change policy among the other parties? We have already seen
:50:28. > :50:32.both the Conservatives and to a lesser extent Labour really move to
:50:33. > :50:37.try and meet this UKIP threat. From the perspective of UKIP, they want
:50:38. > :50:41.to put pressure on Labour to get Ed Miliband to commit to a referendum
:50:42. > :50:45.on Europe and they have arty Gotze David Cameron to do that, and they
:50:46. > :50:52.want to `` they have already got David Cameron to do that. They
:50:53. > :50:59.wanted to do something beyond the net migration cap. Douglas Alexander
:51:00. > :51:01.was quick to slap that down. Do you think that is a sustainable
:51:02. > :51:05.position? What ever Labour do, they will have to do something with
:51:06. > :51:10.UKIP. That might mean asking themselves, why are these
:51:11. > :51:14.working`class voters actually going to a radical right party led by a
:51:15. > :51:18.former stockbroker and not to Ed Miliband 's? They will have to think
:51:19. > :51:21.about how to reconnect with those voters, but they will have to think
:51:22. > :51:25.about Europe and immigration, because those are the issues that
:51:26. > :51:33.with a galvanized the core base of UKIP. A lot of the main already 's
:51:34. > :51:38.have talked about a protest vote. Going into the Westminster
:51:39. > :51:43.elections, a lot of caveats, but do you think they can fundamentally
:51:44. > :51:47.change the dynamic of what is happening here? The next 12 months
:51:48. > :51:52.are going to be fascinating. UKIP are going to be coming out of the
:51:53. > :51:57.gate in 2015 with these first past the post gains in their strategy ``
:51:58. > :52:01.pocket and their strategy will be very different. This is a party that
:52:02. > :52:05.knows how to play the game of British politics and knows what it
:52:06. > :52:09.needs to do at the local level to target seats and really work hard, a
:52:10. > :52:13.bit like the Liberal Democrats in the 1990s. How long can use keep
:52:14. > :52:18.saying you're the outsider? They can keep saying it for the next 12
:52:19. > :52:21.months if not longer. Thank you for your thoughts. We will have plenty
:52:22. > :52:26.more results from here and more analysis. Now it is back to you in
:52:27. > :52:32.the studio. Thank you. We will be back with you
:52:33. > :52:38.at ten o'clock. An update on the search for the missing vessel and
:52:39. > :52:39.before missing British sailors. Clarity on how long this