LIB DEM EURO ELECTION RESULTS IN NEWCASTLE POINT THE WAY TO GENERAL ELECTION GAINS

12.15.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 8th Jun 2009

The Liberal Democrats have for the first time topped the poll in Newcastle in a national election.

The vote across Newcastle saw the Lib Dems finish in first place ahead of Labour, with the Tories in third place.

Both Labour and the Conservatives saw their vote fall, while the Lib Dems increased their share of the vote on 2004.

The result is a bad omen for the city's Labour MPs with a General Election no more than a year away.

On these figures, the Lib Dems look well placed to gain both Newcastle North, held by Doug Henderson, and Newcastle East, held by Nick Brown.

Greg Stone, Parliamentary spokesman for Newcastle East, said: "These are very good results for the Lib Dems, showing an increase on what were already very good figures in 2004.

"By contrast, Labour's vote has collapsed and the Tory vote has also gone down.

"Given that we had a clear lead city-wide, we believe that Labour MPs in Newcastle

North and Newcastle East are now in serious trouble when the General Election comes.

"We have shown tonight that the Lib Dems are the only party that can beat Labour in Newcastle, and that the Conservatives can't."

:: Result:

Lib Dem 15,646

Labour 14,148

Con 8,678

UKIP 6,876

BNP 5,152

Green 4,443