Weekly Poll Lowdown

So we had the European Elections early on #ThingsElliottSays and the results are below. The Conservatives did very well in increasing their share from 2009 and so did the Green Party who have romped into 2nd place. A bad day for UKIP who went down and the Lib Dems who lost a lot. The independents will be disappointed with no votes.

How will you vote in the European Elections in 2014?

Conservative	31%
Labour	21%
UKIP	10%
Lib Dem	4%
Green	23%
Independent	0%
Unsure	10%

Total votes: 48

So how would this translate into seats, the European Elections are done by regional PR so this is easy to calculate although will not reflect a true picture because of regional variation. This would account for some odd loses from the Conservatives when gaining % in the vote.

Party	Seats	Gains/Losses from 2009
Conservative	23	-3
Labour	16	+3
UKIP	7	-6
Lib Dem	3	-8
Green	16	+14
Independent	0	-1

I'm quite surprised by the lack of UKIP support because I personally think they are in with a good chance of winning the EU elections next year. The Greens did remarkably well too and I think that this results from the fact students are not so massively for Labour, there is nowhere else to go if you're left. Alternatively it could just be lots of Tories having a joke on my poll.

Nigel Farage may be confused by lack of support in the #ThingsElliottSays poll but is in with a fair shot of coming first in 2014, He will at least be second again. 

This poll was launched because it is voting time in the Tory Party for the ranking on the list of candidates of the elections to the European Parliament. If you live in the Eastern Region you have to vote for Cllr Tom Hunt on your ballot paper. Tom is a great campaigner throughout the East and one who is genuinely Eurosceptic. He has also bravely come out and said that if there were to be a EU referendum today he would vote to leave because it is currently not in our favour.

But what is my general advice on voting for Conservatives across the country. Well always pick a good campaigner. With such a large region to cover an MEP needs to pick more campaigns than small local to help as many people as possible in a huge region. A good campaigner is someone who has often travelled to all areas and not just stayed near to where they live.

Another trait which I would look for is someone who is genuinely Eurosceptic. It is very hard to imagine someone in the Conservative Party who is not in the least bit wanting reform of Brussels, the only one that comes to mind is Ken Clarke out of the 100s of members I have met. There is however a small band of these ever closer union Conservatives and they seem to be attracted more than most to become a MEP. It is very hard to judge who these people are because everyone will put in 're-patriation' of powers into a piece of literature just to be selected. A safe bet then to make sure you get someone who is secretly a would be Lib Dem member is to select first those who are plainly Eurosceptic.

Sadly a few Conservatives like Ken Clarke are just ignoring the facts on Europe.

There are two MEPs that you should definitely be voting for if you're in their region. Dan Hannan, for being one of those voices who knows a lot about what is going on in Europe and how it will be changing in the next few years. He presents the best case of why we must at least take a strong Eurosceptic stance in the Tory Party. Also vote for Emma McClarkin who also takes an equally national interest stance. I have met Emma a few times and she genuinely works hard for the people of the East Midlands as well as giving Europe flack over making our country worse than it should be. I will be voting for Emma next year in the East Midlands in Nottingham and she will be getting my full support for re-election.

Emma McClarkin on the Brussels trip, make sure you vote for her.

Vote in the new poll on the sidebar.