THE European election count at Leeds for the Yorkshire and the Humber region had turned ugly.

Raised voices led to scuffles in a doorway of the town hall and suddenly the number of yellow-jacketed police officers in the room doubled.

The new BNP MEP droned on to jubilant shouts from black-shirted skinheads around the room.

A lesson in democracy? No.

The BNP’s 120,000 votes from a 3.5 million regional electorate was less than four in every 100 voters.

The biggest winner was the “voting is a waste of time” party, two-thirds having stayed at home. They saw no difference between the sleaze of the traditional parties and did not believe the non-Westminster parties were likely to change anything.

However, those parties, including Ukip, the BNP and the Green Party, were the second biggest winners. But with the exception of the Green Party, these were protest votes, not something in favour of a cause.

This unrepresentative vote was a stifled cry of despair from voters desperate for the political establishment to listen to them and their concerns.

If Westminster politicians continue to ignore the silent majority, then rule in this country will be handed to those black-shirted skinheads and yellow-jacketed police.

Leslie Rowe, Yorkshire and the Humber Green Party MEP candidate, Brompton-on-Swale, North Yorkshire