UKIP wins first parliamentary seat

(ANSA) - Rome, October 10 - The anti-EU and anti-immigrant United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) on Thursday won its first seat in the British parliament.
    Douglas Carswell, a defector from the Conservative Party, took the seat of Clacton by 12,404 votes.
    Carswell knocked his old party - which enjoyed a 12,068 majority at the 2010 election - into second place.
    UKIP leader Nigel Farage said he had "shaken up British politics".
    Farage said UKIP could hold the balance of power after next year's general election.
    He said UKIP's second place in the northern seat of Heywood and Middleton was "even more significant" than its win in Clacton, saying the party was now the main opposition to Labour in northern cities.
    "Something big is happening here. People want change, they have had enough of career politicians in three parties," Farage said.