LONDON, May 8 (UPI) -- The small UK Independence Party may have won enough votes in 10 districts to cost the Conservative Party those seats in the British Parliament, officials say.
Across the country, the Eurosceptic UKIP picked up only 3 percent of the vote, the Daily Mail reported Saturday. But in some districts in southwestern England. where distrust of the European Union is strong, the party pulled in more votes than the margin of victory for Labor or Liberal Democrat winners.
At least some Conservatives damaged by the party share its views, the Mail said. David Heathcote-Amory lost his seat in Wells by 800 votes to a Liberal Democrat in a district where 1,711 went to the UKIP candidate.
At least four Labor ministers kept their parliamentary seats in districts where Conservative candidates would have won if they had picked up all the UKIP votes. Local Government Minister Ian Austin won by a margin of only 649 votes.
The Liberal Democrats won five other West Country districts besides Wells where UKIP may have helped the party get the margin it needed.
The Conservatives won 307 seats, 17 short of a parliamentary majority.
