The West Midlands' first United Kingdom Independence Party MEP has vowed to fight corruption and waste in the European Union. Mike Nattrass said the 251,366 votes for UKIP across the region at elections for the European Parliament demonstrated a growing public disenchantment with the EU. UKIP's share of the vote in the West Midlands, 17.5 per cent, stunned mainstream political parties which felt the backlash of the electorate's Eurosceptic mood. With the region's representation in Brussels reduced from eight MEPs to seven, the final results of last Thursday's polls saw three Conservatives elected along with two for Labour, one Liberal Democrat and Mr Nattrass for the UKIP. Votes were counted on Sunday evening to fit in with election arrangements in the rest of Europe. Tories Philip Brad-bourn, Philip Bushill-Matthews and Malcolm Harbour were all returned for a second five-year term. Labour's Michael Cashman and Neena Gill were also returned, along with Liz Lynne for the Liberal Democrats. The UKIP polled strongly in rural areas, particularly Here-fordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. In many of the region's 36 polling districts the party found itself in third place. In Bromsgrove, Malvern Hills and Solihull, however, the UKIP was in second place. Mr Nattrass said the UKIP's strong showing was boosted by votes taken from Labour supporters. "We are not stealing the Conservative vote, we are stealing the Labour vote," he added. This demonstrated that UKIP was not right wing, he said. His mission now is to expose Brussels' "corruption and domination of Europe". Mr Nattrass, a Birmingham businessman, said: "More than 60 per cent of our laws are made in Brussels and that is an absolute outrage. "It is quite wrong and indefensible that politicians in Europe can tell us in Britain how to lead our lives. "I shall go to Brussels to report back and educate people about the waste, bureaucracy and corruption." He appealed to members of mainstream political parties to join the UKIP if they believed Britain should pull out of Europe. "There are some good guys in the Labour Party who want to get out of Europe. They should come and join us. "We are the only political party in Britain that is telling the truth about the European Union." Conservative MEP Philip Bradbourn said: "The UKIP vote is an expression of dissatisfaction with Tony Blair's line on Europe. It is not true that the UKIP is draining the Conservative vote." However, Mr Nattrass and Mr Bradbourn's views were not borne out by a statistical analysis of the West Midlands results which showed a 10.6 per cent slump in support for the Tories against a 4.6 per cent fall for Labour compared with 1999. Other minority parties fared well, including the far-right British National Party which took 7.5 per cent of the vote. The BNP polled strongly in Sandwell, where the party finished in fourth place with 9,976 votes. The Green Party took 5.2 per cent of the vote, George Galloway's Respect polled 2.4 per cent and the Pensioners Party took 2.3 per cent. Chris Lennard, leading Green Party candidate on the West Midlands list, said: "This has been such a positive campaign for us, and it is great to see such a strong Green vote. "The Conservatives and Labour both lost seats here, while the Lib Dems were disappointed not to have won their expected second seat. UKIP and the Greens are the parties on the rise. "As the fourth party in British politics, and a huge force in Europe, we now look forward to building on this result so that we can put in place sustainable solutions to tackle climate change and make the world a safer, more peaceful place." | 
