Anti-EU vote 'cost Tories 27 seats'

The Tories could have been deprived of 27 seats at the election by the hardline anti-European Union parties, a right-wing think-tank has warned.

The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) took 622,000 votes, and Robert Kilroy-Silk's Veritas party picked up 41,000. Although neither came near winning a seat, the Eurosceptic Bruges Group said their support could have prevented the Tories from gaining 18 Labour-held seats and cutting Tony Blair's majority to a precarious 30.

They include Crawley which Labour held with a majority of 37 - UKIP won 935 votes. Labour held on by 97 votes in Harlow - and UKIP and Veritas had 1,922 between them. Nigel Farage, one of UKIP's best-known Euro-MPs, got 2,079 votes in Thanet South; Labour beat off a Tory challenge by 664. UKIP and Veritas votes could also have stopped the Tories from winning a further nine seats held by the Liberal Democrats, the group's analysis shows.

The Bruges Group, whose chairman is Lady Thatcher, said: "The Conservatives cannot afford to ignore either Europe or UKIP at the next election if they are to stand a chance of winning and forming a government."