Green Party holds firm in Europe
Caroline Lucas said some results were "spectacular"
The Green Party has held on to its two seats in the European parliament after the results of last week's elections were announced last night.
Its vote increased by 44% compared with 2004, but party leader Caroline Lucas told the BBC she was disappointed the results had not translated into another seat.
"We have seen some spectacular results where we have targeted areas like Brighton and Hove and that bodes well for the next election," she told the news provider.
Margot Wallstrom, the European Union commissioner in charge of raising the union's public awareness, told the Independent that governments must make Europe a bigger factor in domestic politics.
She made the comments after a record low of 43% of eligible voters were estimated by the newspaper to have cast ballots.
Elsewhere, Labour was beaten into third place by the Conservatives and UKIP respectively and the BNP won its first two seats in Brussels.
The gains by the far-right party were branded as a "sad day" for British politics by both the Tories and Labour.
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