THE UK Independence Party can win seats in elections in Wales, it has been claimed.
Welsh MEP John Bufton has told BBC Radio Wales that opinion polls suggest that if a Welsh Assembly election was around the corner UKIP could take a number of seats.
He said the party was getting more members in Wales and was already focusing on next year's European elections.
UKIP, whose main policy is for the UK to leave the European Union, gained about 25 per cent of votes in the council seats it contested in England's local elections on Thursday.
Mr Bufton said UKIP had also done very well in the council elections on Anglesey, although it failed to win a ward.
"Had there been elections in the rest of Wales we'd have seen a number of councillors elected in Wales," he said.
He added: "On the ground we're getting more members, we're going in the right direction."
He said the party appealed to people from all parties, people who had got tired of other parties and wanted a change.