SOUTH SWINDON: UK Independence Party candidate Stephen Halden, said: "For us it (the election) was about principles.

"We think too much power has been handed to Europe and we want to bring it back to the British parliament and the British people.

"This Labour Government wants to pass more and more power to Europe their party is a total opposite to ours."

And Mr Halden, who is chairman of the Swindon branch of UKIP, said the party's share of the vote did not reflect the level of support for its policies.

"Some 1,500 leaflets were distributed by my party and we found that most Swindon people support what we are saying," he said.

"This is in line with national polls which show 70 per cent of the British public support what we are saying.

"Sadly that has not been converted into votes people have been voting tactically.

"I looked around at the counting tables early on and I realised it was going to be a poor result."

Mr Halden urged the two Labour MPs to tackle housing issues in their constituencies.

"Across Swindon there is a lack of affordable housing," he said. "People are buying properties to rent them out and this is pushing first-time buyers out of the market."