The Conservative Party has pledged to fight for British interests in Europe.

Speaking last week to ePolitix.com, MEP Jonathan Evans said his party's message had been going down well with voters.

"I think that this has been an election in which there has been much more interest in the campaign than there has been in previous European elections," the Conservative leader in the European parliament told this website.

"The clear indications from our canvassing are that the Conservative message of putting Britain first is going down very well with the voters."

He also indicated that the party had learned lessons from the 1999 European elections, when the party probably appealed "just to core Conservative voters".

"I think we have a much wider appeal in this election campaign and it is certainly the response that I get that a significant number of the people who are clearly deserting the Labour Party are coming directly over to supporting the Conservative Party in this election," he said.

"That is being reported by our canvassers throughout the United Kingdom and it has been some little time since we were able to report some former Labour voters coming over to support the Conservative Party.

"In a European election we always anticipate that a good proportion of people who would vote Liberal in a Westminster election would be voting for the Conservative Party because the indications that we have are that as many of half of Liberal Democrat supporters prefer the Conservative Party's policies on Europe to that of their own party."