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Lib Dems lose only Scottish seat in European parliament as they finish fifth

The Scottish Green Party beats the junior Westminster coalition partner with Ukip taking the Lib Dem European parliament seat

Austerity cheerleaders the Liberal Democrats woke up yesterday to find they had lost their only Scottish seat in the EU parliament.

The junior coalition partners’ 7.1 per cent pushed them into fifth place behind the Greens.

Ukip picked up their seat, taking 10.5 per cent of the vote.

Labour’s vote surged 5.1 per cent to take two of the nation’s seats, while the SNP’s less than 0.1 per cent drop in the vote still saw them top the poll with two MEPs of their own.

The Tories kept their seat.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage was famously chased out of Edinburgh in May last year when he was confronted by anti-racist demonstrators. He took refuge in a pub after a taxi driver refused to let him into his cab.

Ukip’s winning candidate was the only one not to live in Scotland — his address is given as Kensington, London.

Scottish results were delayed slightly to await ballot boxes from the Western Isles.

Turnout in Scotland was just 33.5 per cent — which is still an improvement on 2009 when only about 28.5 per cent of the electorate voted.

The Scottish independence referendum will be held on September 18.

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