Smoking Ban Could Be 'Blueprint For Britain'

London is looking at making its public areas smoking free zones within the next few years.

A influential report commissioned by London mayor Boris Johnson says that lighting up should be banned in parks and other places controlled by local authorities.

The recommendation from the London Health Commission follows similar moves in other cities around the world.

And the report's author, Lord Darzi, says such action by London would be an example that the rest of Britain could follow.

Lord Darzi writes in the report, called Better Health For London: "London should lead the way for Britain, and the Mayor should lead the way for London by acting to make our public spaces smoke free.

Video: Australia's Smoking Ad Ban

"With 67 London schoolchildren starting smoking every day, urgent action is required.

"We have an opportunity to set a better example for London's children by making parks and other places controlled by London's local and regional government smoke free."

The report says that New York, Hong Kong and several parts of Canada and Australia have also banned smoking from public areas.

Video: Smokers In Cars With Kids Face Fine

The UK outlawed smoking inside venues in 2007 and 78% of adults are now reported to support the change.

But while there are now 2.4% fewer admissions to hospitals for heart attacks, many smokers have been unable to give up completely and 18% of people in the capital  - more than one million - still light up regularly.

The report recommends the mayor: bans smoking in Trafalgar and Parliament squares; makes all Royal Parks smoke free, including Hyde Park, Regents Park and Kensington Gardens; asks Transport for London to outlaw smoking at bus stops and encourages local authorities to ban smoking in all other local authority-owned areas such as town centres and smaller green areas.

Video: Report: Smoking Bans Protect Kids

England's chief medical officer Professor Sally Davies backed the ban.

She said: "We all know smoking is bad for health so I welcome any measures to reduce both active smoking and its role modelling in front of children."

Pro-smoking campaigners objected however, saying the move would be an attack on personal liberties.

Video: Smoking Ban 'Right Thing To Do'

Simon Clarke of Forest said in a blog post: "A ban on smoking in parks and squares would be outrageous. There's no health risk to anyone other than the smoker. If you don't like the smell, walk away.

"Tobacco is a legal product. If the Chief Medical Officer doesn't like people smoking in front of children she should lobby the Government to introduce designated smoking rooms in pubs and clubs so adults can smoke inside in comfort."

The report makes a number of other recommendations to improve health including minimum pricing for alcohol, traffic-light labelling on restaurant menus, restrictions on "junk food outlets" near schools, Oyster card discounts for people who walk part of the way to work and measures to reduce air pollution.

Video: Shocking Increase In Child Smokers

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Obama To Call For Tougher Ebola Response

The US President is holding a conference with major world leaders to discuss the ebola outbreak, which he says the world is not doing enough about.

Barack Obama said he plans to pressure some countries into taking firmer action to slow the spread of the disease.

His comments came as it was revealed that the United States is establishing a rapid-reaction team to help hospitals whenever a case of ebola is discovered.

More than 4,400 are now known to have died of the virus across Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, with over 8,000 infected.

But world health experts say that the number of people being infected will reach 10,000 a week within two months.

Video: Sixty Days To Beat Ebola - UN

US officials were forced to admit on Tuesday that they had not done enough to limit the disease before the death of a man who had travelled from west Africa.

Centers for Disease Control Director Tom Frieden unveiled a series of steps designed to stop the spread of the disease in the US, including the rapid response force and increased training for health care workers.

He made the move after being told by many hospital staff that they lacked the training needed to deal with the virus.

Video: Ebola Screening Measures Revealed

Mr Freiden said about the rapid reaction force: "I wish we had put a team like this on the ground the day the patient - the first patient - was diagnosed.

"That might have prevented this infection. But we will do that from today onward."

A nurse who caught ebola while treating the first victim to die on US soil released a statement on Tuesday thanking people after being given a transfusion containing  antibodies.

Video: On Board Ebola Ship RFA Argus

Mr Obama, speaking at a meeting of world defence ministers, said he planned to hold a video conference with British, French, German and Italian leaders to discuss ebola and other international issues.

The World Health Organisation said the share of people infected who are dying from the disease had now risen to 70%.

And Anthony Banbury, head of the United Nations mission for ebola, told the UN Security Council that the global response to the crisis must meet critical goals by 1 December "or face an entirely unprecedented situation for which we don't have a plan."

Video: '10,000 New Ebola Cases Per Week'

Doctors on the ground are struggling to keep up with the disease's relentless march with NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres saying that 16 of its staff members had been infected and nine had died.

British hospital ship RFA Argus was due to set sail for Sierra Leone at high water on Tuesday loaded with equipment to create a temporary hospital when it arrives in November.

There was good news for ebola affected countries Nigeria and Senegal which could be declared free from the disease within days after no new cases were announced for 42 days.

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Plane Quarantined After Passengers Fall Ill

A flight from Dubai has been quarantined at Boston Logan Airport after five passengers began "exhibiting flu-like symptoms".

Emergency responders donning protective hazmat suits boarded the Emirates flight as passengers were told to remain on board.

Crews from Boston EMS and the Massachusetts Port Authority Fire Department responded to the scene.

Logan Airport is not one of the five airports conducting ebola screenings

Airport spokesman Matthew Brelis stressed that "none of the five were travelling from West Africa".

Logan is not among five US airports designated to perform ebola screenings on passengers.

The airport does not receive direct flights from the African countries where more than 4,000 people have died from the virus.

US health officials have been on heightened alert after a nurse in Texas contracted ebola while treating a dying patient.

Nina Pham's case marked the first transmission of the deadly virus on American soil. She became ill while treating Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national who succumbed to ebola on 8 October.

The 26-year-old nurse was wearing protective gear while in contact with Mr Duncan, officials said, prompting added concerns over how she contracted the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called for stepped up training throughout the US healthcare system.

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Ebola: Enhanced Screening Starts At UK Airports

Britain is to start enhanced screening today of passengers coming to the UK from the countries worst affected by the ebola outbreak.

Checks will begin at Heathrow's Terminal 1 and will then be expanded to Gatwick airport and the Eurostar rail terminals by the end of the week.

The move is designed to halt the spread of a disease which has killed more than 4,000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Previously British Airways was the only airline that operated a direct service to the UK from the affected area.

Although it stopped flying to Liberia and Sierra Leone in August, there are fears that people who have picked up infections in those countries may try to reach the UK by another route.

Video: Ebola: Infected Dallas Nurse Named

About 1,000 passengers a month are said to travel to the UK from the three countries.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said that it is "likely" that ebola will be seen in the UK with around 10 cases expected to be confirmed in the next three months.

He said the screening measures being put in place should ensure 89% of people travelling to the UK from the affected region on tickets booked directly to the UK are checked.

Video: Fear And Panic Over Ebola Calls

In a statement to the House of Commons on Monday, Mr Hunt said: "Whilst there are no direct flights from the affected region, there are indirect routes into the UK.

"In the next week, Public Health England will start screening and monitoring UK bound air passengers identified by the Border Force coming on to the main routes from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

"This will allow potential ebola virus carriers arriving in the UK to be identified, tracked and given rapid access to expert health advice should they develop symptoms."

Video: Can UK Be Protected From Ebola?

Anyone found to have ebola will be moved to the Royal Free Hospital in north London, the UK's specialist centre for treating the most dangerous infectious diseases, Mr Hunt said.

Other facilities may be made available in Newcastle, Liverpool and Sheffield, to make a total of 26 beds available, he added.

Mr Hunt said screening at airports could be extended to Birmingham and Manchester if the threat level increases, but in the meantime people manning the NHS' non-emergency 111 phoneline will also be taught to look out for potential ebola.

Video: New UK Measures To Tackle Ebola

Britain's latest ebola aid flight delivering equipment to help tackle the outbreak arrived in Freetown on Monday. It includes materials to help build a 92-bed unit being constructed by a UK team.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned the epidemic is the "most severe ... health emergency in modern times".

A nurse who became the first person to contract the disease in the United States, after treating a sufferer who had flown into the country from the affected area, is still in a stable condition in isolation.

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Ebola: Nurse Is First To Contract Disease In US

Tests are being carried out on another suspected ebola sufferer in the US - hours after a female nurse was confirmed to have contracted the disease from a patient.

The man was put into isolation in Boston, Massachusetts, after recently returning from Liberia - one of the countries worst affected by the outbreak.

It follows the death of 42-year-old Thomas Eric Duncan at a hospital in Dallas, Texas, the first from ebola on US soil.

A nurse who was treating Mr Duncan at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital was confirmed on Sunday to have been the first to contract the disease in the US.

The unnamed woman, who had been wearing full protective gear, reported having a "low-grade fever" on Friday and was then isolated, officials said.

Video: Ebola Due To 'Breach In Protocol'

Dr Thomas Frieden, from the Centres for Disease Control, said the hospital worker caught the disease because of a breach of care protocol during Mr Duncan's treatment.

A further 18 workers could also have been exposed, he said, and are being monitored.

The male suspected ebola victim who recently returned from Liberia is being evaluated at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston.

He presented himself to a hospital in Braintree, Massachusetts, complaining of headache and muscle aches, before being transferred.

Video: World Bank: Ebola Response Too Slow

It is expected to take between 24 and 48 hours to discover if he is suffering from ebola.

More than 4,000 people have died in the latest outbreak, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in west Africa.

The US started screening people travelling from those countries to its busiest international airports on Saturday to limit the disease's spread.

An exercise also took place in the UK over the weekend to ensure emergency authorities were prepared for the disease's possible spread.

Video: US To Screen Travellers For Ebola

UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has now announced that calls to the NHS's non-emergency 111 phoneline are to be screened for possible cases of ebola.

Anyone ringing up with possible symptoms of the disease will be questioned to see if they have been to West Africa.

It has been reported that there are fears hundreds of students returning to UK universities after a summer break in west Africa could be at risk of inadvertently bringing the disease to Britain.

Mr Hunt said that the UK had "robust and well-tested systems for dealing with any imported case of ebola", but added: "However, we keep the need for further measures under review and will never be complacent - and so I asked for additional steps to be taken by NHS 111."

Video: Is Britain Ready To Handle Ebola?

Britain is also planning enhanced screening at Heathrow and Gatwick airports and at Eurostar rail terminals.

The UK's chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, said the country should expect a "handful" of ebola cases in the coming months.

The British expert in charge of the United Nations response to ebola, Dr David Nabarro, said on Sunday he hopes the spread of the killer virus will be "under control" in three months.

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Midwives Among 400,000 Striking Health Workers

By Joe Tidy, Sky News Reporter

Hundreds of thousands of health workers will today go on strike in protest at the Government's decision not to give them a 1% pay rise.

For the first time in history, midwives will join picket lines mounted outside hospitals and ambulance stations across the country.

Several trade unions will be involved in the action, including those representing nurses, paramedics, hospital porters and ambulance crews as well as the Royal College of Midwives (RCM).

The strikes could see around 400,000 refuse to work in England for four hours from 7am, with action planned later in Northern Ireland.

Contingency plans have been worked out, and union members will deal with emergencies.

Video: Hospitals To End Parking Charges

The Royal College of Midwives will take part in the action for the first time in the organisation's 133-year history.

Cathy Warwick, the college's chief executive, said: "Midwives are caring people who often work long hours of unpaid overtime just to keep our understaffed, under-resourced maternity services running in the midst of a decade-long baby boom.

"They deserve this modest 1% pay rise."

Unions are protesting at the Government's decision not to accept the independent pay review body's recommendation to award a 1% pay rise to all staff.

Instead, ministers took the decision to award a 1% pay rise for those on top of their pay band, which unions say has denied the 1% increase to 60% of NHS workers in England.

Video: Hospitals Relying On Holiday Locums

In Wales, thousands of NHS workers will vote on whether or not to strike after a similar offer was made.

In Scotland, all staff were granted the recommended 1% pay rise.

No decision has been made in Northern Ireland.

Rob Webster, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: "We are working through some of the toughest times in the history of the NHS.

"A pay award for all staff on top of increments would have cost £450m more - the equivalent of 14,000 newly qualified nurses.

Video: Hundreds Sent Home At Night

"Hard-pressed staff would have been put under greater pressure or may have had to be reduced.

"Restraining pay was a tough decision for politicians to make and I believe they did it on the basis of improving the quality of care and maintaining continuity of services."

NHS bosses say non-emergency appointments will be postponed during the strike and emergencies won't get ignored.

But ambulance service providers say they may be forced to prioritise their care and are bringing in extra staff from the military to fill in the gaps.

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Revenge Porn Offenders To Face Prison

By Harriet Hadfield, Sky News Reporter

Publishing sexually explicit pictures of former partners is to be made a criminal offence - and could carry up to a two-year prison sentence.

It is known as revenge porn and involves uploading private images with the intention of embarrassing or shaming an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend.

The issue was brought into sharp focus after celebrities including pop stars Rihanna and Tulisa Contostavlos fell victim to the cruel craze.

In the last two and a half years 149 cases of revenge pornography were reported to eight police forces in England and Wales and figures from the Press Association show victims include children as young as 11.

An anonymous victim of revenge porn told Sky News: "I felt humiliated, I was shocked that someone had stooped to that level to try and humiliate me because I didn't think that I had disrespected someone enough for them to do something like that to me.

Video: Revenge Porn Victims As Young As 11

"It makes you feel dirty, it makes you feel unconfident and if something can be done about it, I think it should be."

There is currently no law in the UK that deals directly with the issue but proposed changes to legislation would apply to online and offline images and those convicted could face a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

The change in the law would be made via an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill.

Adam Pemberton, assistant chief executive for the charity Victim Support, said: "This type of behaviour can be extremely distressing for its victims causing them significant psychological harm.

Video: Revenge Porn Police Stats

"We are pleased that people who commit these gross violations of privacy will now face prosecution and victims of revenge porn know they have the full backing of the law."

But some experts are questioning whether a specific revenge porn offence will work.

Lawyer Myles Jackman told Sky News: "It is very difficult as there are a number of different scenarios in which revenge porn might be created and not all of them will fit this one scenario.

"Creating an offence that catches all is almost impossible."

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Ebola Virus Screenings Begin At US Airports

John F Kennedy airport in New York has begun strict new health screenings for travellers arriving from West African countries hit by the ebola outbreak.

JFK was the first of five airports to introduce the measures, brought in to give a layer of protection after the death of the first patient diagnosed with ebola on US soil.

The four other airports - Newark, Chicago's O'Hare, Washington Dulles and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International - are due to begin the checks next week.

Together, the five airports account for 94% of all travellers coming into the US from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the countries worst hit by the epidemic that has killed more than 4,000 people.

Passengers arriving at any of the airports from those countries will have their temperature taken, be assessed for signs of illness and answer questions about their health and any exposure to the disease. 

Video: Ebola Drill Tests UK Readiness

Anyone with a fever or other symptoms could be barred from travelling further or be referred to nearby treatment centres if necessary.

Officials say the screenings are not expected to cause any great inconvenience or delays as they will only involve around 150 passengers a day.

The measures were put in place after Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan died in a Texas hospital on Wednesday.

Video: Bank Boss: Ebola Response Too Slow

Mr Duncan's family say they still have not been informed of his death officially.

His nephew, Josephus Weeks, said: "To date no one has called from the hospital. No one has told my mom, my grandma and myself that Eric passed. We heard it from the news." 

Mr Duncan, 42, was originally sent home from hospital despite showing symptoms of ebola, and was only re-admitted when his condition deteriorated.

Video: US To Screen Travellers For Ebola

His case sparked panic about the possible spread of the virus in the US despite assurances from President Barack Obama the chances of that happening were "extraordinarily low."

Meanwhile, the British expert in charge of the UN's response to ebola has said he hopes the spread of the disease will be "under control" in three months.

Dr David Nabarro said the number of cases in west Africa were increasing week-on-week.

Video: Is Britain Ready To Handle Ebola?

But systems now put in place, along with help from nations including Britain, could help turn the tide and reduce the number of cases significantly.

Dr Nabarro told the BBC: "As a result of the sensitisation programme last month I think we have got a much better community involvement, which leads me to believe that getting it under control within the next three months is a reasonable target."

His comments come after the UK's chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, said the country should expect a "handful" of Ebola cases in the coming months.

Video: UN: Ebola Needs 'Global Movement'

According to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, a nationwide exercise on Saturday to test Britain's readiness for any cases showed plans were "robust".

Like the US, Britain is to bring in enhanced screening for the virus at Heathrow and Gatwick airports and Eurostar rail terminals. Details are expected in the next few days.

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Major Parties Face By-Elections Hangover

By Jon Craig, Chief Political Correspondent

As I left the count with UKIP's deputy leader Paul Nuttall after a nail-biting night at the Heywood and Middleton count, he said to me: "I need a pint of Guinness!"

The Guinness and the foaming pints of bitter favoured by the UKIP leader Nigel Farage will taste especially good today after a storming by-election victory in Clacton, and a photo-finish in the safe Labour seat of Heywood and Middleton.

Douglas Carswell's comfortable victory by 12,404 votes in Clacton was predictable, but is still an ominous warning to David Cameron and the Conservatives of the damage UKIP can potentially inflict on the Tories in next year's General Election.

But Labour's near-defeat in Heywood and Middleton, clinging on by just 617 votes after a recount demanded by UKIP, has already sent shock waves through the Labour high command and will reignite the criticism of Ed Miliband's leadership inside his party.

Bad tactics, bad strategy, bad leadership, his accusers will claim.

1/16

1. Gallery: The UKIP History In Pictures

   1993: UKIP is founded by Alan Sked in response to the Maastricht Treaty, which set out the modern day EU and paved the way for the Euro. He left the party in 1997 saying it had become a "racist party for the far-right". He is now the leader of New Deal, which has been called UKIP of the Left.

2. 1999: The party takes its first three seats in the European Parliament, under the leadership of the millionaire businessman Michael Holmes. Nigel Farage is one of those MEPs.

3. 2000: Michael Holmes resigns and Jeffrey Titford takes over as leader of UKIP. He leads the party to field 420 candidates at the 2001 General Election and secure 1.5% of the vote.

4. 2002: Former Conservative Roger Knapman takes over at the helm.

5. 2004: The party wins 12 seats at the European Elections, among the UKIP MEPs is the chat show host Robert Kilroy Silk.

6. 2005: Growing speculation Robert Kilroy Silk will take on the leadership comes to nothing and he announces he is leaving the party, calling it a "joke", setting up his own party, Veritas.

7. 2006: In a radio interview David Cameron calls UKIP members "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists, mostly". It's the same year Nigel Farage is elected leader with 45% of the votes. Mr Farage drives an armoured vehicle to the Conservative Party Conference demanding an apology.

8. 2009: UKIP wins 13 seats at the European Elections but Mr Farage steps down as leader so he can concentrate on preparing for the General Election.

9. 2010: Nigel Farage decides to oppose House of Commons Speaker John Bercow in Buckingham - not the done thing. He fails to win the seat and goes on to reject the party's manifesto as "486 pages of drivel".

10. 2011: Ed Miliband hits the campaign trail at the Barnsley by-election (pictured) but UKIP candidate comes second to Labour, indicating the party presents a challenge to both Left and Right.

11. February 2013: Diane James wins UKIP's highest by-election showing with 27.8% of the vote at Eastleigh. The Liberal Democrats hold the seat.

12. September 2013: MEP Godfrey Bloom quits the party after provoking a row when he called women party activists, who didn't clean behind their fridges, "sluts". It came shortly after he made a reference to "bongo-bongo land".

13. May 2014: UKIP becomes the first party other than Labour or the Conservatives in more than a century to win the majority share of the vote in a UK election at the local and European elections. Mr Farage claims he delivered the "earthquake" he promised.

14. August 2014: Conservative MP Douglas Carswell announces he is defecting to UKIP triggering a by-election in Clacton.

15. September 2014: Conservative MP Mark Reckless follows Mr Carswell and defects to UKIP on the eve of the Tory party conference, triggering a by-election in Rochester and Strood.

16. October 2014: Nigel Farage announces he has parked his tanks on Labour's lawns as he joins the campaign trail in Heywood and Middleton, where a by-election is triggered by the death of the Labour MP Jim Dobbin, on the same day as the Clacton vote.

Until now, Labour has complacently assumed that UKIP could unseat Conservative MPs but merely eat into Labour majorities in its safe seats in the north of England. That assumption has now been shattered by the Heywood and Middleton result.

Make no mistake, Labour got a horrendous fright in this former northern stronghold. At the beginning of the night, senior Labour figures were confident of victory and expected to win with a comfortable majority, with UKIP in second place.

But after it was revealed that the turnout was just 36% and not in the mid-40s, as they expected, I watched as the colour drained from the faces of the Labour campaign team.

They stared at the bundles on the tables in the centre of the room and saw that they were virtually identical in size.

Video: Speech: Douglas Carswell MP

As UKIP successfully called for a recount, Mr Nuttall declared that the margin between the two parties was 620 votes. He turned out to be almost spot on.

Last week, I went to Clacton on the day Prime Minister David Cameron paid a brief visit and inspected the sea defences being built to protect the coastline against storm damage.

But in a seaside constituency with an elderly electorate, the UKIP storm was always going to blow the Tories away.

Interviewed by Anna Botting on Sky News after his victory, Mr Carswell was gracious enough to admit that Heywood and Middleton was the more significant result.

Video: Interview: Labour MP

After Clacton, though, the second UKIP defector, Mark Reckless, looks well placed to hold his Rochester and Strood seat in his by-election.

But Mr Cameron's Tory conference gag: "Go to bed with Nigel Farage and wake up with Ed Miliband", looks mistaken now.

That's because these two by-elections, held on the Prime Minister's birthday, have shown that UKIP is capable of damaging Labour as well as the Conservatives.

The lesson for Labour is that just talking about the NHS, as its Heywood and Middleton candidate Liz McInnes did, isn't enough. Voters want to hear about the economy and immigration too.

Video: Interview: Nigel Farage MEP

The lesson for the Conservatives is that trying to out-UKIP UKIP doesn't do any good. Why vote for a party copying UKIP policies when you can vote for the real thing?

The beer and Guinness enjoyed by Mr Farage and Mr Nuttall will certainly taste better than ever now.

But Mr Cameron and Mr Miliband will need a stiff drink after these two results. And their by-election hangover will last seven months, all the way to the general election in May 2025.

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UKIP Vote Soars As Party Claims First Elected MP

UKIP has claimed its first elected MP by winning 12,404 votes in the Clacton by-election and slashing Labour's majority in Heywood and Middleton to just 617 votes.

Former Conservative MP Douglas Carswell won a landslide victory in Clacton, Essex, by securing 21,113 of the 35,386 votes cast.

Nigel Farage's party also forced a recount in Heywood and Middleton, where Labour's Liz McInnes narrowly defeated UKIP's John Bickley.

Mr Farage told Sky's Faisal Islam the strong UKIP result showed the Eurosceptic party is "ripping lumps out of the old Labour vote in the north of England".

"I'm very excited by what's happening in the north of England ... Labour have won, just," he said.

Video: Inside The UKIP Party's Party

Mr Carswell, who triggered the Clacton by-election when he defected from the Tories, said UKIP's success reveals a "profound change in British politics".

Speaking after the result was announced, he said: "We must be a party for all Britain and all Britons: First and second generation as much as every other.

"Our strength must lie in our breadth. If we stay true to that there is nothing that we cannot achieve."

1/15

1. Gallery: UKIP Surge In By-Election Results

   UKIP has its first elected MP after Douglas Carswell took almost 60% of the vote in the Clacton by-election.

2. Mr Carswell won the seat with a majority of 12,404 over the Tory candidate Giles Watling.

3. Liz McInnes won the seat for Labour in the Heywood and Middleton contest, but its majority of almost 6,000 in 2010 was slashed to just 617 votes.

4. On a turnout of just 36%, Ms McInnes won with 11,633 votes, defeating UKIP's John Bickley on 11,016.

5. Ed Miliband's party's majority had been almost 6,000 in 2010, but a UKIP surge saw a 17.65% swing to Nigel Farage's party.

6. A triumphant Mr Carswell said "there is nothing that we cannot achieve" after winning Clacton.

7. UKIP's first elected MP to Parliament forced the election after defecting from the Tories.

8. Mr Carswell was the favourite to win, but there were still nerves on the night.

9. Mr Carswell took almost 60% of the vote.

10. Mr Farage said: "Congratulations Douglas Carswell, a brave and honourable man who has a just reward."

11. Ms McInnes won with 11,633 votes in Heywood and Middleton, defeating Mr Bickley on 11,016.

12. Despite UKIP's loss in the Lancashire constituency, Mr Bickley told Sky News "the Labour vote had collapsed".

13. Mr Farage went on to tell Sky News: "We are ripping lumps out of the old Labour vote in the north of England. The truth of what has happened in the North today is that if you are anywhere north of Birmingham, if you vote Conservative you get Labour."

14. He added: "And the reason we haven't won up there, despite a fantastic campaign, is that too many people have stuck with the Conservatives, not recognising that UKIP is now the challenger to Labour in every urban seat in the north of England."

15. Turnout in Clacton was 51.2%, while in Heywood and Middleton it was just 36%.

Ms McInnes gained 11,633 votes in Heywood and Middleton, where voter turnout fell to just 36%.

In her victory speech, Ms McInnes said the by-election result was a win for the NHS.

"The people gave their backing to Ed Miliband's plans for an NHS with the time to care," she said.

Video: By-Election Highlights

"They have rejected a Tory government that is only standing up for the privileged few."

Analysts say Labour's vote was damaged by the low turnout. Voter turnout was higher in Clacton, where 51.2% of voters cast their ballot.

Sky's Jon Craig said the dramatic decline of Labour's majority in Heywood will trigger further debate about Ed Miliband's leadership.

Video: Speech: Douglas Carswell MP

"UKIP have done better here than even they thought they would. They've come within a whisker of pulling off a sensational by-election victory."

Labour has highlighted the collapse of the Tory and Liberal Democrat vote as reasons for UKIP's strong showing.

Backbench MP John Mann said: "The real issue is why so many Labour voters are not bothering to vote. The mantra of 'must work harder' is not sufficient.

Video: Interview: Labour MP

"Ed Miliband does a lot of listening. Now he needs to do a bit more hearing."

Voters in Heywood cast their ballot for a new MP following the death of Labour's Jim Dobbin last month.

Mr Dobbin held the seat from 1997 and was returned in 2010 with a significant majority.

Video: Results: Heywood & Middleton

The vote in Clacton was triggered in August by Mr Carswell's defection to UKIP.

UKIP's next target is Rochester and Strood, where defector Mark Reckless is hoping to return to Parliament following his defection.

Mr Farage told Sky News there would be further defections to his party in the months running up to next year's General Election.

Video: Who's Winning? Labour or UKIP

"There comes a point where there will be backbench Conservatives, and perhaps some Labour ones too, who will reckon they have got a better chance on a UKIP ticket net year than a Tory or Labour ticket," he said.

:: Watch full coverage and reaction throughout the day on Sky News - available on skynews.com, Sky News for iPad and on Sky 501, Virgin Media 602, Freesat 202 and Freeview 132.

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