Highlands farmer and Ukip supporter has his day in the sun
A farmer from the Black Isle finally had his day when the ballot boxes were emptied-out at the European Elections count in Dingwall.
UKIP supporter Philip Anderson was thrilled when the votes tallied to reveal almost 8000 Highlanders marked their paper with a cross for the revered party leader he credits as "today’s answer to Winston Churchill".
The 72-year-old grandfather-of-seven who has been knocking on doors for the last 13 years was delighted to learn UKIP is on course to win its first seat in Scotland. The group has doubled its number of votes in the Highlands, Moray and Aberdeen compared to 2009,
"I have been ploughing a lone furrow since 2001," he said. "I’m very gratified with today’s result."
Highland Council’s SNP leader Drew Hendry said his party’s lion’s share of the Highland vote showed "a big surge in support".
Coming in second place behind the SNP, the Liberal Democrats secured 12,189 votes. Highland MP Danny Alexander said
Scotland lost a hard working MEP in George Lyon, "a man who understood and fought for the Highlands".
But, despite the overall national result, its vote was solid in areas where it has MPs, including the Highlands.
Mr Alexander said he was "proud of the unashamedly pro-European campaign we ran and the progress we are making in government to fix our economy."
Of the total 65,307 votes cast in the Highlands, 9,163 were in Labour’s favour. The party was just ahead of the Conservatives, which took 9,088.
UKIP secured 7,818 votes, the Scottish Greens received 5,615 and the British National Party managed to woo 435 supporters.
Green party campaigner Anne Thomas from North Kessock, said the UKIP result may have been poorer if the media had honed-in on Nigel Farage’s party policies instead of his colourful character.
"If the Greens had had more media coverage and people had realised the sort of policies UKIP stand for many would have voted differently," she said. "Some people on the doors were saying they had warmed to Nigel Farage’s character but they didn’t know about his policices and they were shocked to hear about them."
But Mr Anderson brushed off the criticism and said it was clear farmers, fishermen and haulage operators were "fed-up being dictated to by Europe". And he was pleased to see people "taking a stand against immigration".
"There has to be government reform to keep the population on an even keel," he said. "Nigel Farage is a man of his time. He’s like Winston Churchill."
He insisted racist tags attached to his party were undeserved.
"We are not racist," he said. "We’re not racist at all. We just want to retain our British identity, our British sovereignty, all of the principles that we have had for over the last 1000 years."
He said UKIP had undeniably swiped SNP votes but Richard Laird, SNP councillor for Inverness Central and the group’s deputy leader for Highland Council, said that was not true.
"UKIP didn’t affect our vote. It stayed steady nationally and increased in the Highlands. Its vote has come from somewhere else," said Councillor Laird.