I WOULD like to thank all those who voted for the UK Independence Party in the Euro election.

The party now has three MEPs and we narrowly missed getting three more - including here in the North West, where 66,779 voted UKIP while just 72,006 would have been enough to gain us a seat.

From small beginnings, this has been a tremendous achievement and we can all feel proud of it. British people have had enough of taking orders from Brussels and they are prepared to stand up and say so.

These results give us great confidence that, with your continued support and enthusiasm, this country will avoid being pushed into the euro.

Also, we are much closer to our aim of seeing Britain rightfully governed by our own elected parliament, rather than EU officials.

DR JOHN WHITTAKER, (UK Independence Party lead candidate, North West region Euro election), Economics Department, Lancaster University.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.