Tory MP Philip Dunne in vow on Euro referendum
Shropshire Tory MP Philip Dunne today claimed the EU was not working for British people – and vowed the Conservatives would deliver on their promise to hold an in/out referendum.
Mr Dunne, the MP for Ludlow, said the relationship between Britain and Europe needed fixing in the eyes of voters, who he said had voted for Ukip in the European elections as a "free hit" on the Coalition Government.
But officials for Ukip in Shropshire today described the European election results in the region as a political "tsunami", echoing their leader Nigel Farage's "earthquake" analogy.
Stephen James Dean, Ukip's spokesman for south Shropshire, described gaining the most votes in Shropshire as a historic moment for the party and predicted the party would win five or more seats at next year's general election.
It comes as Ukip bids to shed its image as a protest party – despite polling the largest share of the vote in both Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin at the European elections.
An online poll of Shropshire Star readers, which attracted around 3,000 votes, was evenly split over whether Nigel Farage's party could now be considered part of the political mainstream. A narow majority, 53 per cent, said Ukip was capable of becoming more than a protest party.
Ukip now has three of the West Midlands' seven MEPs.
Mr Dunne said the Tories could take "some comfort" from achieving a 24 per cent share of the vote at the European elections, while noting the Ukip's share of the vote at the local elections had dropped from 23 per cent last year to 17 per cent.
He also said the results raised issues for both Labour and the Liberal Democrats – whom he said had been "virtually wiped out".
Mr Dunne said: "The election results on Sunday night showed that many people in this country believe the EU is not working for Britain.
"That message is absolutely received and understood by me and other Conservatives.
"We must focus on fixing that relationship, deliver real change and make it work for Britain, and then give people a say on the result through an in/out referendum. Only the Conservatives have a clear plan to do that."
Mr Dean said: "The events of the past few days could be described as a tsunami. I don't think the Tories ever thought Ukip would take Shropshire – it's historic."
