Some 42% of 2.2m Welsh votes were counted at Haverfordwest

The final declaration saw the expected result - Labour with two seats, and Conservatives and Plaid Cymru one each.

But UKIP, which wants Britain to pull out of the European Union, pushed the pro-EU Liberal Democrats into fifth place.

The party says it will now use this platform to try to make more gains in Wales in the general election.

Until this election Wales had five MEPs, but the number has been cut to four after 10 new states joined the EU last month.

When Thursday's votes were counted on Sunday, Labour finished first, with nearly 300,000 votes, or 32% of the vote.

But the Conservatives overtook Plaid Cymru in comparison with the last European election in 1999, and UKIP more than trebled its share to take about 10%.

Wales in Europe 2004 Labour: 297,810 votes (32.4%): 2 MEPs Conservative: 177,771 (19.3%): 1 MEP Plaid Cymru: 159,888 (17.4%): 1 MEP UKIP: 96,677 (10.5%) Lib Dem: 96,116 (10.4%) Green: 32,761 (3.5%) BNP: 27,135 (2.9%) Forward Wales: 17,280 (2.8%) Christian Democrats: 6,821 (0.7%) Respect: 5,427 (0.5%)

When the results for the whole of Wales were declared in Haverfordwest, UKIP was next, just over 500 votes ahead of the pro-EU Lib Dems.

They were followed by the Greens, British National Party, Forwards Wales, Christian Democratic Party and Respect - the Unity Coalition.

The MEPs returning to Brussels and Strasbourg are Labour's Glenys Kinnock and Eluned Morgan, Conservative Jonathan Evans and Plaid Cymru's Jill Evans.

David Rowlands, head of UKIP in Wales, said the party had gained votes in Europe from a section of the electorate who would not have otherwise voted.

UKIP's David Rowlands said the result gave the party a strong platform

And, he claimed, if Wales still had a fifth MEP - as before European enlargement - UKIP would have taken the final seat.

"If we can get our message across to the other 50% who did not vote, we will have a much larger vote in future," said Mr Rowlands.

John Williams, the Lib Dems' lead candidate, accepted he was disappointed with his party in fifth place.

He accused the media of pursuing an anti-EU agenda which helped UKIP make gains at the expense of his party.

Europe's an excellent thing for Wales - a lot of our jobs depend on it Eluned Morgan MEP

Plaid Cymru's re-elected MEP Jill Evans said her party's vote had held up well in its strongest areas, and denied the party had stabilised after its surge five years ago.

"1999 was an exceptional year," she said." I think the local election results and the European election results show that we are party that is making gains all the time".

''Excelllent thing'

The turnout in Wales was its second highest ever at 42%.Turnout had slumped to 28% five years ago, and it was clearly helped by holding the poll on the same day as the council elections.

Despite coming first in Wales in the Euro elections, Labour admitted they had lessons to learn.

MEP Eluned Morgan said: "It's (Europe's) an excellent thing for Wales - a lot of our jobs depend on it."

"The fact that we have 50,000 jobs from European Objective One funding means it touches the lives of our people."

How Wales voted in 1999 Labour: 199,690 votes(31.9%): 2 MEPs Plaid Cymru: 185,235 (29.6%): 2 MEPs Conservative: 142,631 (22.8%): 1 MEP Lib Dem: 51,283 (8.2%) UKIP: 19,702 (3.1%) Green: 16,146 (2.6%) Others: 11,738 (1.9%)

Conservative Jonathan Evans pointed to the Tories' second place and said: "That for my party is the first step towards re-establishing ourselves in Wales.

"The Conservatives are now back on a roll... and are looking forward to the general election."

Glenys Kinnock said: "We have shown yet again that we are the true party of Wales. We are proud of this result tonight as it shows the strength of Labour in Wales."

But she admitted that the surge in the UKIP share of the vote was "very worrying", saying Labour had to make a "strong case for our engagement in Europe".