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Nigel Farage, UKIP: "We've been abused by everyone, and now they're shocked and stunned"
UKIP leader Nigel Farage has hailed early gains in council elections across England as "remarkable" for the party.
UKIP has won 42 seats so far and is averaging 25% of the vote in the wards where it is standing.
Mr Farage said it put his party in a "very strong position" in the run-up to the next general election.
The Conservatives have lost control of three councils, but retained five, while Labour made modest gains in the Midlands and the south of England.
Contests are taking place in 27 English county councils and seven unitary authorities, as well as in Anglesey. About 2,300 council seats are up for grabs in England, in a major mid-term test for the coalition government.
Most of the counts will take place later on Friday.
In other developments:
The Conservatives had braced themselves for a tough night, with David Cameron admitting that voters liked to punish governing parties between general elections.
The Tories are defending thousands of seats last fought in 2009 - when they were in opposition and when Labour had its worst night in local election history.
"Start Quote
End QuoteIt is the day UKIP emerged as a real political force in the land"
Of the eight county councils to declare so far, the Tories retained control of traditional council strongholds Essex, Dorset, Hampshire and Hertfordshire, as well as Somerset.
But they lost their majorities on Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire and Warwickshire county councils, which moved to no overall control, as both Labour and UKIP made gains.
Nearly 10,000 candidates were battling for seats in English county councils and unitary authorities - "top-tier" authorities in charge of schools, roads, refuse collection and fire and rescue among other services.
Labour is expected to claw back ground in the north of England and make some progress in the south. In an early success, it took a seat from the Conservatives in Dorset on a 12% swing but party strategists are playing down expectations of major gains.
UKIP surgeThe most eye-catching performance so far has been from UKIP, which is riding high in the opinion polls and fielded 1,700 candidates, three times the number that stood in 2009, when the party won just seven council seats.
So far, the party has won 16 seats in Lincolnshire - where it is now the official opposition.
The party, which campaigns for the UK to leave the European Union, has been polling 12 points higher, on average, than in wards where it stood in 2009.
UKIP's Nigel Farage told the BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that "the people who vote for us are rejecting the establishment and quite right too".
"Three parties, three fronts benches who look the same and sound the same and made up of people who basically have never had a job in the real world," he said.
"But are they voting UKIP just to stick two fingers up and to scream very loudly or are they voting UKIP because we're offering positive policy alternatives?"
"I don't think these votes are going away quickly," he added.
'Get the message'He said the results put UKIP in a "very strong position" in the run-up to the next general election, but acknowledged that "when it comes to a general election we do have a problem, which is the first past the post election system".
He later confirmed on BBC Radio Kent that he would stand as a candidate at the next general election. In 2010 he unsuccessfully contested Speaker John Bercow's seat of Buckingham.
Reacting to the results, Conservative Party co-chairman Grant Shapps said it had "not been a great night for any of the main parties".
"I do think we absolutely get the message," he told the BBC.
Vote share in key wards so far
- For wards won by the Conservatives in 2009:
- UKIP +21%
- Lab +6%
- Con -10%
- Lib Dem -12%
- For wards won by Labour in 2009:
- UKIP +16%
- Lab +13%
- Con -10%
- Lib Dem -12%
- For wards won by the Lib Dems in 2009:
- UKIP +17%
- Lab +6%
- Con -9%
- Lib Dem -12%
- N.B. These are provisional figures based on data from the BBC's key wards, and most of the results are yet to be declared.
"People want to see the economy fixed, welfare capped, help for hard-working people. We are starting to make progress in those areas... but there is much to do and that is what these results are really all about."
Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman said UKIP's rise was a "wake-up call" to other parties.
"We should listen very seriously if people are feeling disaffected and disenchanted," she said on the BBC's Question Time programme.
"It is a challenge to us, it's a wake-up call for us to actually listen to people who feel that times are hard and wonder whether any of us have actually got the answers."
Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes said UKIP had made progress in some areas, but said it was "patchy".
And Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable said the UKIP rise had to be taken seriously, likening their surge to that seen in recent Italian elections - saying they showed the appeal of the "humorous right" over "nasty fascists".
The result of the Doncaster mayoral contest will be known later on Friday. Incumbent Peter Davies looks like he has made it through to the second round in a head-to-head with the Labour candidate - he is fighting for re-election as an independent after quitting the English Democrats.
Local council elections were also held in Anglesey, which is currently classified as no overall control but is dominated by independents.
No elections took place in London, Scotland, Northern Ireland or anywhere in Wales other than Anglesey.
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