SHELL-SHOCKED councillors from other parties last night moved to downplay the impact of the UK Independence Party’s success across north Essex.

The anti-EU party surpassed most expectations by gaining nine seats on Essex County Council.

These are the first ever seats for the party at county level – coming mostly at a cost to the Conservatives, which saw its majority slip from 60 seats to 42.

There were also substantial gains for Labour, which increased its seats from two to nine, while the Liberal Democrats lost two seats to also finish with nine.

Candidates from the Green Party will also take their place round the table at County Hall for the first time after it secured two victories in elections for the Witham Northern and Rochford South divisions.

But this was UKIP’s election, grabbing seats in Brightlingsea, Bocking, Tendring Rural East, Basildon Laindon Park & Fryerns, Westley Heights, Rayleigh South, South Benfleet, Thundersley and Wickford Crouch.

Chairman of central Essex branch of UKIP Jesse Pryke put the party’s success down to its charismatic national leader, Nigel Farage, and the electorate’s growing disillusionment with the established political groups.

He said: “Nigel has done a lot to boost our support. He’s the leader some people love to hate but people relate to him and he’s a powerhouse.

“Our policies are aimed at the people rather than the other parties who are only interested in themselves.

“The Conservative Party has grown away from the people.”

But councillors from the main parties last night said UKIP had a long way to go before becoming a serious threat.

Colchester county councillor Kevin Bentley, who retained the Stanway and Pyefleet seat for the Conservatives, said UKIP candidates had campaigned on national issues, such as membership of the EU and immigration, but in most cases, people had voted on local issues.

He said: “We gained 60 seats at the last elections in 2009, so although we lost 18 seats this time round we still in a strong position.

“Essex remains a Conservative-led council and we look forward to dealing with the local issues people have asked us to look at.”

Deputy leader of the Colchester Lib Dems, Theresa Higgins, who was re-elected to her seat for the Parsons Heath and East Gates division in the town, described the gains for UKIP as “protest votes”.

She said: “I’m amazed at how many seats UKIP got considering they didn’t put out any literature.

“But they are protest votes. I don’t necessarily think people believe in their policies – it’s more a case that they think the other parties are all the same.”

In Harwich, newly-elected Labour councillor, Ivan Henderson, questioned how UKIP candidates would fair once the daily business of local politics got under way.

He said: “UKIP can’t keep going on about immigration and Europe for ever.

“They will be tested on a range of issue and there will be a lot of people interested in how they perform.”

Of the one million potential voters across the county there was a 27.6% turnout.