European election results likely to increase pressure on Brown.

GORDON BROWN is expected to face fresh calls for his resignation today after his party suffered another dismal display at the ballot box, with the BNP taking its first Euro seat.

Labour suffered a sharp fall in its share of the vote, with early results indicating it could finish fifth in some regions.

In Yorkshire and Humber, BNP candidate Andrew Brons took the last of six seats, marking a major electoral breakthrough for the party.

The result was quickly denounced by members of the mainstream parties, with William Hague, MP for Richmond, North Yorkshire, saying he deplored the outcome.

He said many of the farright party’s votes came from disaffected Labour supporters.

However, BNP leader Nick Griffin said the party’s presence in the European Parliament would “transform”

British politics.

He told Sky News: “The party is going to go on and grow very rapidly.

“We’re going to be major contenders in a number of places in the next General Election and the next wave of council elections -– we’re going to do very well indeed.”

But Linda McAvan, Labour’s winning candidate in Yorkshire and Humber, said she was “extremely disappointed”

the BNP had won a seat.

In the North-East, there was no change in the make-up of the region’s MEPs.

Stephen Hughes (Labour), Martin Callanan (Conservative) and Fiona Hall (Liberal Democrat) were all re-elected.

Mr Hughes, a Labour MEP for 25 years, topped the region’s poll with 147,338 votes.

But his share of the vote fell from 34.1 per cent in 2004 to 25 per cent last night.

However, Mr Hughes said: “I’m delighted, with the backdrop of everything that’s been going on recently, to have topped the poll.”

He called on the Labour Party to unite behind the Prime Minister, saying it should back Mr Brown’s attempts to clean up politics.

The Conservative Party held on to its one North-East MEP, with an increased share of the vote.

Mr Callanan was returned for a third term in Brussels, after finishing second with 116,911 votes.

The party’s share rose from 18.6 per cent in 2004 to 19.8 per cent.

Mr Callanan hailed what he called a “very good” result for his party.

The Liberal Democrats’ share of the vote fell slightly, but the party kept its one parliamentary seat won in 2004 Ms Hall said the poll was a very strong indicator the Lib Dems were well placed to win more Westminster seats in the region.

The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) polled strongly, coming fourth with 15.4 per cent of the vote – well up on 2004’s showing.

The BNP also made inroads, taking more than 50,000 votes to finish fifth.

Turnout was down by about ten per cent to 30.5 per cent.

Early results suggested it was going to be a bad night for Labour across Britain.

In the South-East, Labour faced being pushed into fifth place behind the Green Party.

The party was also facing the prospect of failing to top the poll in Wales for the first time since 1918 while in Scotland, nationalists outpolled Labour by a clear margin.

Earlier, the Prime Minister had sought to reassert his authority over his party in a speech in east London, insisting he would not “walk away”

in the face of political and economic difficulties.

He said the public would not understand if the Government gave up at a time when it was faced with the problems of tackling the recession and cleaning up Parliament.

“What would they think of us if ever we walked away from them at a time of need?

We are sticking with them,”

he said.

“We have a purpose, we have a mission, we have a task ahead. We are going to get on with that task of building a better Britain.”

However, the next few hours are unlikely to be comfortable for the Prime Minister, with a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party due to take place tonight.

A letter drawn up by rebel Labour MPs calling on Mr Brown to resign could also be published today – with 71 names enough to trigger a leadership contest.

Senior Cabinet ministers toured television and radio studios yesterday to back their boss, with former Hartlepool MP Lord Mandelson telling rebels to stop taking shots at him.

He warned that if Mr Brown resigned, there would be an immediate General Election – a prospect sure to strike fear into MPs defending slim majorities, given the public anger over MPs’ expenses.

At last night’s count in Sunderland, Nick Brown, the Minister for the North-East and one of Gordon Brown’s closest political allies, challenged the rebels to find the support necessary to contest the leadership at the party’s annual conference.

Nick Brown said: “The Labour Party rulebook is very clear – get an alternative candidate, get the requisite number of signatures to support the candidate, take the issue to the party conference.

That’s what the rule book says – that’s what they should do.

“Please don’t put us through a division and an ongoing and continuing quarrel which will never reach a conclusion.”

However, Tessa Jowell became the first Cabinet minister to speculate openly that Mr Brown could be prepared to step aside if he believed that he had become an “obstacle”

to Labour winning the next General Election.

And yesterday, Lord Falconer, the former Lord Chancellor, became the most senior figure yet to call for a leadership contest.

In Manchester, anti-BNP protestors briefly stopped the party’s leader, Nick Griffin, from entering the Euro election count.

Placard waving demonstrators surrounded a number of cars – one of which was thought to be carrying Mr Griffin – when they arrived at Manchester Town Hall.

Mr Griffin later entered the town hall via a rear entrance, having arrived in a police van.

NORTH-EAST RESULTS: BNP 52,700; Conservatives 116,911; Christian Party 7,263; Green Party 34,081; English Democrats 13,003; Jury Team 2,904; Labour 147,338; Lib Dems 103,644; Libertas 3,010; No2EU 8,066; Socialist Labour 10,238; UKIP 90,700.

Delegates to debate links with Labour

GORDON BROWN will face anger from postal workers today when one of the biggest affiliates to Labour will decide whether to split from the party in protest at controversial plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail.

The annual conference of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), in Bournemouth, will debate its links with Labour and its MPs in the wake of moves for a partial sale of the postal group.

The Prime Minister and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson are also expected to be fiercely criticised by some of the 1,000 delegates.