THE UK Independence Party (UKIP) emerged as the winner in the European elections for the South East when the results were declared by the regional returning officer in the early hours of Monday.

Ten seats were up for grabs, compared with 11 at the last election in 1999 following adjustments in the ratio of MEPs to size of population. The seats are allocated according to a closed list system of proportional representation.

The anti-European Union UKIP increased its vote share to 19.5 per cent, from 9.7 per cent at the last election, and has increased its number of MEPs from one to two.

Nigel Farage, who was re-elected as a UKIP MEP, said: "We are looking forward to many battles ahead, starting with the EU constitution. With at least 12 seats across the country, the UKIP MEPs will start work today on a future strategy in preparation for their first session of European Parliament in the autumn."

The Conservatives suffered a big drop in votes - down to 35 per cent from more than 44 per cent - and are down from five MEPs to four.

The Labour vote fell from 19.6 per cent to 13.65 per cent, which means the party now has only one MEP for the region - Mark Watts having lost his seat.

Liberal Democrats Chris Huhne and Emma Nicholson were returned again on almost the same share of the vote as last time, 15.3 per cent.

Green Party candidate Caroline Lucas, who made two visits to Basingstoke during her campaign, was also voted in again.

In Basingstoke, the proportion of votes was broadly similar to the regional picture, but with the Conservatives polling more than one per cent above the regional average.

The Liberal Democrats were also slightly above their regional average, but the Green Party were more than one per cent below their corresponding figure.

The British National Party picked up 2.9 per cent in both Basingstoke and Hart local authority areas - exactly mirroring the regional result.

The turnout for the election in the South East, which took place at the same time as the local elections, was 36.5 per cent.

The new MEPs are:

Conservatives - Daniel Hannan, Nirj Deva, James Elles and Richard Ashworth

UKIP - Nigel Farage and Ashley Mote

Liberal Democrats - Chris Huhne and Emma Nicholson

Labour - Peter Skinner

Green - Caroline Lucas.