ON a glorious day for UKIP and a harrowing one for the Conservatives, many of the day’s winners and losers gave their reaction to the Cambridgeshire County Council results.

Cambs Times: Cambridgeshire County Council election count at the Hudson Leisure Centre, Wisbech. Cllr John Clark (Con)Cambridgeshire County Council election count at the Hudson Leisure Centre, Wisbech. Cllr John Clark (Con) (Image: Archant)

John Clark (Con), who retained his March West seat, said: “I would like to thank everyone who voted for me.

Cambs Times: Cambridgeshire County Council election Cllr Ralph Butcher (Con)Cambridgeshire County Council election Cllr Ralph Butcher (Con) (Image: Archant)

“I look forward to serving the people of Fenland.”

Cambs Times: Cambridgeshire County Council election count at the Hudson Leisure Centre, Wisbech. Dean Reeves (Lab)Cambridgeshire County Council election count at the Hudson Leisure Centre, Wisbech. Dean Reeves (Lab) (Image: Archant)

Cambs Times: Cambridgeshire County Council election count at the Hudson Leisure Centre, Wisbech. Stephen Court. (Lib Dem)Cambridgeshire County Council election count at the Hudson Leisure Centre, Wisbech. Stephen Court. (Lib Dem) (Image: Archant)

Ralph Butcher (Con), who retained Whittlesey South, said: “As usual thank you to everyone who voted for me.

Cambs Times: Cambridgeshire County Council election count at the Hudson Leisure Centre, Wisbech. Cllr Steve Tierney ( Con)Cambridgeshire County Council election count at the Hudson Leisure Centre, Wisbech. Cllr Steve Tierney ( Con) (Image: Archant)

“I will do my best for everyone, whatever their party.

“I first started in 1971 and this is the first campaign when the opposition labelled me a puppet.

“But the only people that pull my strings are the residents.”

Steve Count (Con), who retained March North, said: “Thank you to my team for their incredible hard work and to the other candidates for a clean campaign.

“It is nice that everyone realised how much I really enjoy working for the people of March.”

Steve Tierney (Con) who lost Roman Bank and Peckover to Alan Lay (UKIP) by 11 votes, said: “It has been a privilege and pleasure to be a county councillor.

“I wish the UKIP candidate the best of luck. It’s just a shame he could not be here today.”

Simon King (Con), who lost Wisbech South to Peter Lagoda (UKIP), said: “I really enjoyed yesterday, even though I knew from about lunch time we were going to lose.

“It was nice to meet and talk to voters and fellow candidates.

“As Arnold Schwarzenegger said, we will be back.

“I just want to say the future starts today.

“We are going to win in 2015 and I am proud to still be a Fenland District Councillor.”

Martin Curtis (Con), who retained Whittlesey North, said: “I stand here with so many mixed emotions.

“I am devastated for friends that lost seats not because they have done anything wrong but because of what is going on in national politics.

“On a national level I believe there are only three main political parties but our politicians need to stand up and take notice very quickly of this result.”

David Connor, who won Forty Foot, said: “I would like to thank the voters for placing their confidence in me and am keen to move forward.

“I would also like to thank Mark Archer, which may seem strange, but he has been a good challenger.”

Gordon Gillick (UKIP), who won Waldersey, said: “This is a turn up. The thing about it is that people voted out of frustration and have turned to UKIP, maybe because they know we will give them a proper voice in local government.

“I will do my best to represent them and tell them the truth.”

Mark Buckton, who missed out by five votes in Chatteris to Sandra Rylance (UKIP), said: “I would like to thank everybody who has voted for me. This has been a brilliant experience.

“I would also like to commiserate with the people of Chatteris who voted for a UKIP paper candidate and look forward to an early by-election.”