26/05/2014 BBC News at Six

Another celebration for Nigel Farage as UKIP win the European elections

in Britain. They top the polls and nearly double their number of MEPs,

winning seats in England, Wales and one in Scotland. This party has done

something that hasn't been done for one in Scotland. This party has done

over 100 years, we have won a national election in this country

and I am immensely proud of pro-Europe Liberal Democrats lose

all but one seat. Nick Clegg resists calls to

all but one seat. Nick Clegg resists anything would really be

all but one seat. Nick Clegg resists any of our real

all but one seat. Nick Clegg resists changing strategy, changing

approaches, bailing out now, changing direction, then I wouldn't

hesitate advocating it. Across Europe there are votes against the

established parties - Marine Le Pen and the National Front triumph in

France. We'll be looking at how the political map of Europe has been

redrawn. Also tonight: Fierce fighting in

eastern Ukraine as Petro Also tonight: Fierce fighting in

claims victory in the Presidential election - he promises

claims victory in the Presidential with Russia about his country's

future. And Pope Francis closes his tour of

the Middle East and visits And Pope Francis closes his tour of

Jerusalem's most sacred sites. Later on BBC London,

Jerusalem's most sacred sites. Later Lib Dems in the capital? And a

chance to walk under the river as the Thames Tunnel opens as a

one-off. Good evening. It's been another day

of celebration for the UK Independence Party, after securing

an historic success in the European elections. The party has almost

doubled its members in the European Parliament. Its leader, Nigel

Farage, said the "people's army of UKIP" had spoken and is now looking

to Westminster. The results saw gains for Labour, and losses for the

Conservatives. But the big losers were the Liberal Democrats. These

are the results. Overall UKIP achieved a 27% share of the vote,

resulting in 24 MEPs being elected. Labour attracted a 25% share, and 20

MEPs, up on last time. But the Conservatives suffered a hit, with

24% and 19 MEPs. The Greens have three MEPs. The SNP got a 2% share,

with two members of the European Parliament. But the Liberal Democrat

vote was reduced to just 7% and they lost all but one of their MEPs.

We'll be hearing from Nick Clegg in a moment, but first our Deputy

Political Editor, James Landale, on UKIP'S victory. His report contains

some flash photography. This is the smile of a man who knows he has just

made history, a man whose party is turning British politics upside

down. These are the men and women helping him doing it, the 24 MEPs

elected by more than 4 million people. The voters that Nigel Farage

calls people's army. They looked like goldfish tipped out of the

goldfish bowl onto the floor, gasping for air and clinging onto

the comfort blanket which is, this is a process vote -- protest vote

but it is looking like a permanent protest. UKIP could even hold the

balance of power in another coalition. If you think you have

seen the high watermark of UKIP, you have not seen nothing yet. Across

the country, UKIP won MEPs in England, Wales and Scotland, gaining

more votes and seats than any other party, the first time in a century

that any other party then Labour and Tories has won a UK wide election.

But these faces told a different story, the price of UKIP's success

was paid in part by Liberal Democrat failure, the party losing all but

one of its MPs -- MEPs. If you carry on doing the same thing... Look at

the expression of Danny Alexander, as a leading Lib Dem called on Nick

Clegg to resign. One of the fundamental problems is a section of

the electorate are not listening to Nick Clegg at the moment. It is

sad, undeserved, and maybe the media are partly responsible but we have

got to deal with the world as we have got it. Labour won more votes

and seats than last time, adding another seven MEPs to their number

but they came second just ahead of the Tories, and some MEPs were

worried. We beat the Tories in the European elections, we were making

gains in some of the key seats we need to win the general election so

Labour is making process. Some Labour prompted clarity from their

leader. He will have to be much clearer in what a Labour government

will do, spell it out in precise detail, and have a much more easily

accessible narrative. Despite promising an in-out EU referendum,

the Conservatives lost votes and seats across the board, coming third

in a UK wide election to the first time in their history. It is nice to

know our vote held up. This is that that is keeping some Tory rebels

quiet, at least for now. Many had expected worse, they hope to win

UKIP votes back at the next election. It is a clear message that

people are deeply disillusioned with the European Union and the weight is

working for Britain, and they want change. The challenge is for my

party to demonstrate that we have a plan to deliver that. The Green

party might have had time on its hands but the waiting was worth it,

coming forth with an extra MEP to its name. The BNP caused the usual

force at Viscount and bear MEPs were soundly defeated. The election

belonged to only one party, and the shock waves will be felt for some

time. UKIP is a party on the ascendance, tonight they are

celebrating their success. The question is how many people who

voted for them this time we'll do the same next year for the general

election? Well, as we've been hearing, voters

deserted the Liberal Democrats in large numbers. Some MPs and

activists have questioned whether Nick Clegg should now lead them into

the General Election less than a year away. He was the last of the

main party leaders to respond to the result, but this afternoon he came

out fighting. He's been speaking to our Political Correspondent, Vicki

Young. As political strategies go, this one was high risk and four Nick

Clegg the gamble has not paid off. He went head-to-head with the UKIP

leader laying out his pro-European views, the result was humiliating

defeat. Today the agony was etched on his face, exhausted and pale, he

looks like a man who had been up all night considering his future but he

said it hadn't crossed his mind to resign. I am never going to put

myself ahead of the Liberal Democrats and the interests of the

country. If I thought that anything would be really solved, any of our

real dilemmas would be addressed, by changing leadership, changing

strategy, changing approach, bailing out now, then I wouldn't hesitate

advocating it. For the man with a Dutch mother and Spanish wife who

speaks five languages, the European project is personal. He began his

career as an MEP, many of those who lost their seats last night were

long-standing colleagues. It is heartbreaking, frankly, to see

Liberal Democrat candidates, councillors, members of the European

Parliament, many of whom are old colleagues and friends of mine,

losing their seats in this way. I am asking you to vote for the

Liberal Democrats, the party of in. His appeal for an open-minded

Britain has largely fallen on deaf ears.

You have lost thousands of councillors, do you think it could

get worse to know that what goes up goes down,

and what goes down goes up. to know that what goes up goes down,

really difficult time. We didn't win the argument but we have got to

stick to the values that brought me into politics. Some Lib Dems have

openly called for the Business Secretary Vince Cable

openly called for the Business In a statement he said there was no

leadership issue of In a statement he said there was no

hold its nerve. So far no senior figures have

hold its nerve. So far no senior Clegg to resign but several Lib Dems

I have spoken to want a change of direction. One MP said

I have spoken to want a change of had to do more to get his message

across. Another former minister said Nick Clegg had adopted a bunker

mentality, but so far at least they don't agree a new leader would make

much difference. Let's speak to our Political Editor,

Nick Robinson, who's at Westminster. An historic night, but does it

really change things for British politics? Listen to UKIP and they

would have you believe it does. They style themselves as the people's

army, they talk of mounting a coup against the political establishment.

Nigel Farage's deputy today said this was the most exciting

Nigel Farage's deputy today said British politics since the creation

of the Labour Party more years ago. Moving in on Westminster

will prove harder than moving in on Strasbourg and Brussels. That is

because more people vote in a general election and they take their

vote more seriously. The voting general election and they take their

system is a tougher nut to crack for smaller parties and he will

system is a tougher nut to crack for able to simply bang on about Europe

and immigration. They able to simply bang on about Europe

talk about issues like the NHS, in able to simply bang on about Europe

which the deputy leader says he is in favour of privatising large

which the deputy leader says he is of the national health service. You

saw in Nick Clegg's eyes in the previous report the sign of a

saw in Nick Clegg's eyes in the and a party leader that is

desperate, that doesn't know what to do next. You can hear the fear that

people are moving in on their traditional heartlands, and you

sense among Tory MPs, what do we do now to try to woo those people back?

UKIP may never get power, but they have sure got the power to disrupt.

Thank you for now. UKIP's success wasn't universal.

Although it did gain one MEP in Scotland, the party won a far

smaller share of the vote. Let's speak to our correspondent Allan

Little, who's in Edinburgh. Allan, who is claiming the most comfort

from the voting in Scotland? UKIP are absolutely delighted of course.

They were not on the political map here until today. Alex Salmond said

they would not win, they were not welcome and they would be squeezed

out, he was proved wrong. Scotland is very different to the rest of the

UK. UKIP came forth here, they did not get close to 30%, they got 10%,

so Nigel Farage has not done to the mainstream parties in Scotland what

he has done to them in England and Wales. Scotland's result looks more

like that of Germany, it was the governing party, the SNP, strongly

pro-EU that came the top of the polls and this will enable the

Nationalists to argue that they are not the real separatists, they are

not the real isolationists, and if you want to make sure of staying in

the EU you had better think about voting for independence in

September. Thank you. So, with UKIP gaining a 27% share of

the vote, where did the party pick up most of their support? Jeremy

Vine looks in more detail at how these results compare to previous

European elections in the UK, and further afield in Europe. A huge

election across 28 countries but let's look at the dramatic events in

the UK. This is the map last time in 2009. Labour under Gordon Brown

pinned back to the north-east. The Scottish Nationalists painting

Scotland yellow, elsewhere it is Conservative blue. Let's look at the

map after the 2014 election, and how dramatic change is this? UKIP

purple, Scottish Nationalists yellow in Scotland and laboured also doing

very well in London but the UKIP advance is extraordinary. If I

narrowed down the map and show areas where parties came first in the

local council you can see there is a lot of blue here, but where it

flashes to show which parties came first this time but not last time,

there is so much flashing purple where UKIP has advanced, a truly

brilliant night for Nigel Farage's party. Let's see how many MEPs each

party is left with. UKIP now have 24 members of the European Parliament,

second-place Labour with 20, the Conservatives had 26 last time, down

to 19. The Greens have three, a good night for them, and a catastrophic

evening for the Liberal Democrats, down to just one, then we have the

others, the nationalists among them. All over Europe voters were

standing up trying to make a point of the establishment. In France, the

grey shows the National Front coming first, and in the south-east of

Europe, here we have Greece where the deep red represents a hard left

party which suddenly surged. Across Europe, we saw traditional parties

being punished by outsiders. As we've just seen, across the rest

of Europe, there was also a reaction against the major parties. In

France, the far-right National Front topped the polls. And in Greece,

voters sent an anti-austerity message to Brussels, as a Socialist

Party won there. Our Europe editor Gavin Hewitt reports on a night that

saw people protest against the established European order.

For the far-right Front Nationale, it was a night of clinking glasses.

And celebrations. Afterwards, party leader Marine Le Pen went to a bar

with family and friends. But her victory left France and much of

Europe in shock. This morning, President Hollande summoned

ministers to a crisis meeting. Afterwards, the French Prime

Minister declared, Europe remains a magnificent project. The election

has left France divided. TRANSLATION: If she's pulled 25%,

that means there is a need, so let's give her a chance. Everything which

is unpleasant is attributed to Europe so it's necessarily leading

the people to vote for the extremes. It wasn't just here in France that

anti-establishment parties topped the poll. It happened also in

Greece, but there, the party came from the radical left, and the

issue, five years of austerity. In Greece, the victory belonged to

the radical left. To a party which opposed cuts in exchange for

bailouts. Its leader said, the whole of Europe was watching Greece

because it had resisted austerity. And he called for fresh elections.

The party's success may make it harder to implement unpopular

reforms. In Spain, the two mainstream parties each lost a third

of their European seats. A new left-wing party borne out of street

protest against cuts and inequality unexpectedly won five seats.

TRANSLATION: The main message I want to send to Europe is that we don't

want to be a German colony. We don't want to be a colony of the European

troika. We don't want our young to serve beers and tapas to the rich of

Northern Europe. We don't want to provide cheap labour, we don't want

to simply hand over our country's industry. We want a sovereign

country with dignity and a future. Across Europe, it is mainly the

anti-establishment and Eurosceptic parties that have made the big

gains, a result that the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, regrets.

I think that the rise of right-wing populist parties is remarkable and

regrettable, said the German Chancellor. Now it is up to us to

win back voters here and especially in France. Marine Le Pen has shaken

French and European politics but still a majority of members of the

European Parliament will come from mainstream parties. But back further

European integration. And just a reminder that you can

find out about those results in more detail by visiting

bbc.co.uk/vote2014. Our top story this evening:

UKIP has won the European elections in Britain, almost doubling the

number of its MEPs. And still to come, after today's

results, just what is our attitude to our European neighbours across

the water? Later on BBC London:

Full coverage of the European and local elections, as the Lib Dems

lose out in the capital. And a full weather forecast for the

week to come. In Ukraine, the billionaire Petro

Poroshenko, who made his fortune from chocolate, has claimed victory

in the presidential election, and promised to restore peace and unity

to the country. Within hours of that pledge, fierce fighting broke out

for the control of Donetsk Airport in the East, after armed pro-Russia

separatists raided the building. Mark Lowen has sent this report from

Donetsk. Mark Lowen has sent this report from

An assault from the air met by gunfire from below. Ukrainian jets

sent into Donetsk Airport, seized by rebels this morning. A surprise

attack prompting a long battle for control. Machine guns roaring, as we

were forced back. There has been control. Machine guns roaring, as we

sustained gunfire here, as jets and helicopters have flown into Donetsk

Airport, and it seems as though they've been hit by anti-aircraft

fire, bursts, successively in the last few minutes.

Soon, the impact of the firefight became clear, smoke consuming the

airport. Kiev calls it an anti-terror operation against those

carving out an independent state in the East. The airport had been

blocked off since pro-Russian separatists arrived overnight

demanding Ukrainian forces leave the terminal. The stand-off inside was

peaceful, negotiations under way, when it seemed lost patience.

peaceful, negotiations under way, Kiev lost patience. Soon, the

separatists turned up, heavily armed reinforcements taking up position.

They had to be quick to dodge the bullets. It seems that a

counteroffensive by the rebels may be under way. That truckload of

troops has just arrived, the gunfire has started again. Potentially the

separatist groups have come together again and are trying to head back up

to the airport. For the man who appears to have won yesterday's

presidential election, a stark reminder of what he faces. But

presidential election, a stark Poroshenko vowed a tough line on the

insurgents. The terrorists also don't have any interest to

insurgents. The terrorists also with Ukraine. The Ukrainian

authorities. They don't have any interest to speak with nobody. The

same way like Somalian pirates. In no civilised country of the world,

nobody has a negotiating with terrorists. We are a civilised

country. As the rebels regroup, Kiev stands firm. Ukraine's new leader

says peace must prevail here. How far away it still seems.

The Pope has visited the most important holy sites for Muslims and

Jews in Jerusalem's Old City. On the final day of his tour of the Middle

East, Pope Francis went to the al-Aqsa mosque compound, where he

urged people of all religions to work together for justice and peace.

He then prayed at the Western Wall. Here's our Middle East editor Jeremy

Bowen. Taking shoes on and off when you

visit an Islamic building is a conventional sign of respect, but

when a Pope does it at the Dome of the Rock, the great Muslim shrine

injuries and, it is more than that. And every day of this trip, he has

made carefully calibrated justice to deliver messages. At the Western

Wall, the holiest place in the world where Jews can pray, he touched the

stones and then follow tradition by placing his own prayer between them.

24 hours earlier, the Pope chose the same symbolic gesture at the barrier

Israel has built to separate Bethlehem from drizzle. The

Palestinians took that as his silent condemnation of the apartheid. Next,

the memorial to Jews who died in an attack in Argentina, the Pope's own

country. Binyamin Netanyahu, is well's Prime Minister, delivered his

comment of why this was essential as a barrier. We have saved thousands

because we have this. TRANSLATION: Please, no terrorism

any more. And then the probe reached out with the same gesture he had

used at the walls and is slim and Bethlehem. Next up, is raw's

memorial to the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis, often after

they had been transported to death camps in cattle trucks. -- Israel's

memorial. The Pope said he was ashamed of what man was capable of

doing as he paid respect to those who died in the column was. This is

radio leg is as important to his Middle East peace initiative as his

time with Palestinians. -- this Israeli leg. Now he has got to show

the Israelis that he takes their concerns equally seriously as he has

shown his support for the Palestinian independence. Or his

attempt will have no support at all. Gestures will not end the conflict

here. But they can change the atmosphere, which, at the moment,

would be more than anyone else has managed.

Now we return to our main story, the European election results. What has

UKIP's success told us about our relationship with our neighbours

across the channel? Have we had enough of Europe, and are we now

looking to retreat back to our British Isles? As part of a

continuing series about the nature of Britain, our home editor Mark

Easton has travelled to Hastings in East Sussex and asks, who do we

think we are? We are country shaped by waves.

Waves of European migrants landing on our shores over thousands of

years. But relations with our continental cousins have always been

strained. When William conquered near Hastings, like every foreign

force before and after, he could never win the battle for hearts and

minds. If they had had clipboards and those pens you hang around your

neck, the Normans would probably have the Gaucher today bulk

purchase. The Domesday book allowed them to impose foreign thinking on

the governance of these islands, and ever since, the British have

maintained a profound distrust of Eurocrats. Anxieties about the EU

and what some see as a new wave of European invaders partly explain the

UKIP surge. But does our ambivalent attitude to Brussels disguise the

country becoming more European in its culture and daily life? We used

to think Europe was better, it has better food, better football, but we

have managed would opt all that and we think, people can come to us. As

part of the BBC's Who Do We Think We Are project, do we feel more or less

connected with our European neighbours? A net score of plus 3%

in terms of feeling connected. But it hides a divided nation. The

connection seems to be weaker among the poor, tabloid newspaper readers

and those without qualifications. You enjoy a bit of French pate and

all that sort of thing. Your attitude will be different than if

you don't, if you aren't educated and you don't travel or work in a

more traditional industry. And that is a gulf now clear in Britain. Four

decades ago, when we belatedly and rather reluctantly joined the

European Common market, many saw Great Britain as the poor relation

of the sophisticated continentals, with their fancy cheese, flash cars

and fine wines. Now, the UK is the destination of choice for Europeans

seeking a better life. Personally I am more European. Are you?

Absolutely! As in I go and visit Europe a lot, I spend a lot of time

there. I love Europe. I think we are drifting away from Europe. We have

to be now, don't we? We have all being hypocrites when it came to

Europe anyway. We would withdraw when things get a bit tough. We are

more continental than we would like to let on, but whether we welcome or

resent the consequences of that will depend on how we view globalisation.

As an opportunity or a threat. Let's go back to our political

editor Nick Robinson, on a momentous day for British politics. Today has

felt like a rejection of Europe, both here and on the continent.

Gas, for decades, there was a simple rule in British politics. -- yes.

Stand up for Brussels and you were doomed for failure. Yet it feels

here in the UK and across Europe, that change with these results

today. -- that changed. Tonight, leaders meet in Brussels to talk

about how to respond, and the Prime Minister has a relief in calling his

colleagues to say, you do message of the ballot box. And the question

here and there is, what exactly does that mean? Europe's leaders willing

to change? Will they? Can they? Thank you. That is all from us for

this evening. It is good night from