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Labour Majority Gone In Wales As UKIP Wins Seats

UKIP has won its first seats in the Welsh Assembly - adding to Labour's electoral woes as the party fell just short of a majority in Wales.

Former Tory MPs Neil Hamilton and Mark Reckless are among six UKIP members who have been elected on regional lists representing Mid and West Wales, North Wales, South Wales East and South Wales West.

This is despite the party being opposed to the Assembly's existence until 2013.

Mr Hamilton dropped out of the public eye in the 1990s when he faced allegations that he took cash for asking parliamentary questions, which he has always denied.

Party leader Nigel Farage said UKIP would be a "big voice for Brexit" in the run-up to the EU referendum on 23 June - and would "engage constructively" in the Assembly.

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:: Elections Live - Labour Counts Its Losses

He told Sky News: "UKIP support is still growing. It's growing predominantly at the expense of the Labour Party . We are biting hard into the old Labour vote.

"Many traditional Labour voters look at Jeremy Corbyn and look at a Labour party that has gone way to the left, that is very metropolitan, doesn't look very patriotic and completely refuses to engage with issues like immigration.

"Unless the Labour Party were to change course, I think UKIP will go on growing at the expense of Labour.

"The party has been taken over by a hard left caucus. Is there anti-Semitism within the Labour Party? Clearly there is. Has that had a big influence on this vote? I'm not sure it has.

"I just think a lot of people are deserting Labour - they just don't see it as standing up for Labour values."

Labour is still the largest party with 29 of the 60 seats in the Senedd, but it failed to retain power for a fifth successive term.

The troubled party also suffered the surprise loss of government minister Leighton Andrews to with Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood in Rhondda.

She said: "To win here, in the Rhondda, to win where you've lived all your life and grown up, is a real honour.

"A new dawn is about to break in Wales. People have voted for change."