VALE voters delivered a resounding snub to the Conservative Party as the Brexit Party topped the poll in the district’s European Parliament election results.
Residents across Wychavon flocked to Nigel Farage’s newly-established party and saw it top the poll in the district with 15,262 votes.
The tally was a staggering 7,770 votes ahead of the second placed pro-EU Liberal Democrats who polled 7,492.
The Conservatives came home third with 5,539 votes while the Green Party walked away with 4,116 ahead of Labour with 1,757.
UKIP won 1,655 votes while the recently set up Change UK finished bottom of the pile with 1,567.
Voters across the West Midlands backed Mr Farage in the European Parliament elections.
The former UKIP leader saw his new party equal the three seats won by UKIP at the last elections in 2014 as 37.7 per cent of voters across the region backed a party which was only founded in January while Labour and the Conservatives lost almost 10 per cent and 14 per cent of their vote share respectively.
Unlike the ‘First Past the Post’ system used in UK elections, the EU vote was held under proportional representation meaning the number of votes each party gets overall determines how many MEPs they have.
As a result, the Brexit Party won three of the seven West Midlands seats on offer with Rupert Lowe, a former chairman of Southampton FC, Martin Daubney, former editor of lads’ magazine Loaded, and Andrew Kerr all elected.
UKIP saw its vote collapse by a staggering 26.5 per cent to just five per cent meaning the party was left with no MEPs.
Pro EU parties, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party saw their share of the vote surge as Labour and the Conservatives suffered at the ballot box.
Labour’s Neena Gill retained her seat despite the party seeing its share of the vote drop by 9.8 per cent to 17 per cent, 0.7 per cent ahead of the Liberal Democrats in third who saw their vote rise by almost 11 per cent.
The result saw Sion Simon lose his seat for Labour but a return to the European Parliament for the Liberal Democrats Phil Bennion who lost his seat five years ago.
Dr Ellie Chowns gained a seat for the Green Party who finished fourth as 5.4 per cent increase in the vote saw the party poll more than 10 per cent.
Voters across the West Midlands deserted the Conservatives who saw their share of the vote plummet by 14.3 per cent to just 10 per cent and fifth place in the poll.
The result also saw Dan Dalton lose his seat with long-serving MEP Anthea McIntyre the sole Conservative West Midlands voice returned to Brussels.
Newly-formed Change UK won just 3.4 per cent of the vote to finish bottom of the pile among West Midlands voters.
The West Midlands turnout was 31.1 per cent this year, down from 32.4 per cent in 2014.
