Far right parties made gains across Europe in the elections for the European Parliament as voters expressed their anger against the EU.

In France, Marine Le Pen’s Front National topped the poll with 25 per cent of the vote.
Ms Le Pen described the result as support for "France for the French",

In Greece, the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party took around 10 per cent of the vote, securing third place overall, and look likely to elect at least two of the country’s 21 MEP’s.

The anti-immigrant Danish People's Party won nearly 27 per cent of the vote, doubling its number of MEPs from two to four.

In Austria the far-right Freedom party looked set to take around 20 per cent of the vote. In Hungary, the neo-fascist Jobbik movement took around 15 per cent.

In Britain Ukip was on course to win 28 per cent of the national poll, with Labour gaining around 26 per cent, and the Tories 24 per cent. In a disastrous result, the Liberal Democrats polled under seven per cent, losing all but one of its 11 MEPs, placing the party fifth behind the Greens.

Turnout was just over 34 per cent.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said voters had "delivered about the most extraordinary result that has been seen in British politics for 100 years".

It was a bad night for British National Party leader Nick Griffin who was ousted as an MEP for the north-west of England.

The BNP polled only 1.87 per cent of the vote in the region.

Scuffles broke out as Mr Griffin arrived at Manchester Town Hall for the count, with protesters directing chants of "Nazi scum" at him.

Mr Griffin said BNP supporters had been attracted to Ukip by its anti-immigration policies, but that they would be "disappointed when they find out what Ukip really stands for and that a huge vote is going to come back to us".