Political figures shifted party allegiances in Sutton as residents cast their votes in the European elections.

Adrian Noble, former Tory party chaiman for Sutton Cheam and Worcester Park, quit the Conservatives and defected to UKIP citing his “disillusionment” with the party’s local and national strategy.

Meanwhile, Belmont independent Councillor David Pickles said he would put himself forward as UKIP’s parliamentary candidate for Sutton and Cheam in his fifth political flip in two years.

The moves came as voters turned out in favour of the Conservatives in the European elections for the third year in a row with the party scoring 13,112 votes.

Liberal Democrats saw its vote go up from 2004, claiming a close second with 276 votes behind the Conservatives and UKIP came in third with 8,257.

At the last Euro election the Liberal Democrats came second, 3,107 votes behind the Conservatives.

Both of the borough’s main parties claimed victory over the results with Tory parliamentary candidate Phillippa Stroud claiming they showed people wanted a change in Government at national and local level in response to “a broken society, a broken economy and a broken political system”.

She said: “There is a sense in which people feel it has all happened on this Government’s watch.”

But both of the borough’s Liberal Democrat MPs Paul Burstow and Tom Brake said they believed the results “made it clear” the Lib Dems were on track to re-elect two MPs and hold the council.

Mr Brake said: “This result shows that where the Liberal Democrats have a sound track record and fight hard, we can take on the Conservatives.”

More than 48,000 people came out to vote in Sutton.

Speaking about his move to join Ukip, Mr Noble said the local Conservative party had “lost touch with reality”. He said: “Nobody knows what they stand for these days, there seems to be no sense of purpose and nothing concrete is being proposed to put this borough, and indeed the country, right.”

The leader of the opposition, Paul Scully, said: “It is disappointing when any body leaves the party. There is always more that we can do but we believe we are in tune with the popular mood.Locally we are very much in tune with Sutton residents.”

Coun Pickles defected from the Conservatives to Ukip in 2007 then left and became an independent; last year he said he would stand down from politics in 2010 then said he would run as an independent for St Helier ward. This month he flipped back to UKIP to stand for the Bemont ward once more.

How Sutton voted

Conservatives: 13,112 Liberal Democrat: 12,836 UKIP: 8,257 Labour: 3,190 Green: 3,124 BNP: 2,926 Tamil: 1,664 Christian Party: 1,241 English Democrats: 1056 No2eu: 504 Pro Democracy Libertas: 205 Jury Team: 162 Yes2eu: 55 Socialist labour: 0 Rejected votes: 225