Star comment: Time for MPs to see the light
A Ukip cat has been set among the EU pigeons. David Cameron has got his referendum result early.
And you can see why mainstream political parties are so nervous about an in-out referendum on the European Union.
The Euro result is an indication of a pent-up frustration among the British people.
What should be read in to it? There is obviously a substantial element of protest and a plague on all your European houses.
Are Ukip more than just a protest party? Vote in our poll and have your say in the comment box below.
When the general election comes in a year's time, voters will have a range of domestic British issues which will determine which way they vote.
Ukip is not going to win the next general election. And with the first-past-the-post system, it will be delighted to achieve a modest goal of winning a few seats.
Nevertheless, the march of Mr Farage and his band of fruitcakes and loonies - and how Mr Cameron must regret underestimating them by using those words - could have a significant impact on the result.
Yet if they are to be taken seriously they have to show they are not a one-trick pony. It is a perception which Ukip's Christopher Gill, the former Ludlow Tory MP, rejects. Writing for us today he predicts that Ukip will continue to make serious inroads.
The question is who will shed the most votes to Ukip - and on the face of it the Conservatives have the most to lose, despite Mr Cameron's attempts to reclaim some ground by his promise of a EU referendum. In marginal seats, it could make all the difference.
There is an example in Shropshire from the last election, where the Tories ran a determined campaign to take the Telford seat. Labour won by 978 votes. The Ukip candidate, a former Tory, just like Mr Gill, took 2,428 votes.
Britain is now represented in the European Parliament by a significant number of MEPs who do not think Britain should be in the European Parliament and that Britain should not be in the EU at all.
This is potentially a recipe for chaos. But it will be a chaos in some far off institution about which the British have shown they care little.
This European result sees the ball very much in the court of our Westminster politicians. They have to decide if they are in denial of the public mood, or whether they will respond by acknowledging the rising tide of discontent on Europe.
