Rochester: Farage looks to more UKIP gains after success

Nigel Farage has said UKIP can become a major force in Parliament at next year's election after its victory in the Rochester and Strood by-election.

UKIP's leader said Mark Reckless's win made him think the party could take twice as many seats as it had thought.

Mr Reckless gained 16,867 votes, 2,920 more than Conservative Kelly Tolhurst's 13,947, with Labour's Naushabah Khan on 6,713 - ahead of the Green Party.

The Lib Dems came fifth with their lowest vote in a by-election.

Mr Reckless, whose defection from the Tories to UKIP triggered the contest in Kent, travelled to London soon after his election to take his seat in Parliament, saying his constituents expected him "to get back to work".

As he was sworn in at the House of Commons, he was accompanied by UKIP's other MP Douglas Carswell, another former Conservative who won a by-election last month.

In other developments:

• Shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry resigned from the Labour front bench just hours before the result after being accused of "sneering" by tweeting a photo of a Rochester house with flags and a white van outside
• David Cameron said he was "absolutely determined" to win the seat back for the Conservatives in May's general election
• Ed Miliband said the result was a "devastating" setback for David Cameron and he was determined to meet the challenge posed by UKIP
• UKIP won its first seat on Medway Council after Conservative defector Chris Irvine was elected from the Peninsula ward
• In his acceptance speech early on Friday morning, Mr Reckless said Rochester and Strood had been UKIP's 271st most winnable seat and "if UKIP can win here, we can win across the country".
• Speaking to the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson, Mr Reckless urged other Conservative MPs to join UKIP but said it was difficult to predict how many, if any, would do so because it was a "very individual decision".
  Election choice
  The prime minister vowed to win the seat back in less than six months' time.
  Labour leader Ed Miliband says the by-election result is "a devastating result" for David Cameron
  "This result was closer than the forecasters predicted," he said. "I am absolutely determined to win this seat back because absolutely anything other than a Conservative government will put our recovery at risk and mean Ed Miliband in Downing Street.
  "I am more determined than ever that we deliver security for Britain."
  UKIP leader Nigel Farage denied the result was simply a protest vote against the government, or that voters would return to the larger parties in the general election.
  He said the message of Rochester and Strood was: "If you vote UKIP, you get UKIP" and "people out there who vote UKIP intend to stay UKIP".
  He said he believed the number of seats that UKIP could win in May had "probably doubled".

By Norman Smith, BBC assistant political editor

UKIP's victory was in many ways even more impressive than their triumph in Clacton. The ease with which they demolished a 9,000 Tory majority was striking and this after the Conservatives had strained every sinew to halt the UKIP bandwagon.

UKIP now insists no Tory seat is safe and has suggested other Conservative MPs are more likely to defect.

For the Tories the result was not perhaps the meltdown they had feared and certainly there is no indication so far of panic or calls for Mr Cameron to go.

Senior Tories also believe they are poised to win back this seat at the general election.

For Labour, not only was their share of the vote almost halved - but there was also despair at the damaging tweet by their former shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry, seemingly mocking "white van man".

As for the Lib Dems, not only were they again overhauled by the Greens, but they secured a derisory 349 votes - their lowest total ever.