Mr Titford, who last led the Party from 2000-2002, was asked to take the reins by the National Executive Committee at the meeting in Torquay on the eve of the annual conference.

A new Party Leader will be appointed following a full-fledged election later this year.

A new damning report published this week by the Campaign for Better Transport, says the 27-mile privately financed toll road has been bad news for the West Midlands, bad news for drivers and bad news for investors in the toll.
 
Looking at a recent Highways Agency report, reports by the Transport Select Committee and annual reports from Midlands Expressway Ltd, the Campaign for Better Transport says the toll failed to improve transport in the West Midlands and failed to deliver value for money to motorists.
 
The report’s findings come amid EU attempts to grab control over British roads and motorways and force through pay-as-you-go charges to use our roads.
 
The report states: “Toll roads are not, and will never be, a solution to congestion on British roads, no matter how attractive they may appear to cash-strapped politicians desperate to deliver otherwise unaffordable road schemes.
 
“Instead of promoting toll roads as a viable alternative to central Government money, the Department for Transport should use what little money remains in its coffers to maintain the roads we have and provide people with viable alternatives to car use.
 
“As we have seen from the M6 Toll, even a completely unregulated private sector cannot make money from toll roads. A regulated operator with fewer freedoms over the level of charges (as proposed by motoring organisations) would find it even harder to make a profit, unless supported by covert or overt taxpayer subsidies.”
 
Welcoming the report, Mr Nattrass said: “The report’s findings endorse everything I have said about the M6 Toll since it opened. The toll has been an expensive and embarrassing failure.
 
“The Toll, as the report states, has been overwhelming rejected by hauliers who instead pile onto the already congested M6.
 
“But despite this the EU wants to extend the toll motorways network under the European Electronic Toll Service Directive (EETS). It simply does not make sense.
 
“Our roads should remain in public ownership. We do not need anymore expensive failures like the M6 Toll,” he added.

A new damning report published this week by the Campaign for Better Transport, says the 27-mile privately financed toll road has been bad news for the West Midlands, bad news for drivers and bad news for investors in the toll.
 
Looking at a recent Highways Agency report, reports by the Transport Select Committee and annual reports from Midlands Expressway Ltd, the Campaign for Better Transport says the toll failed to improve transport in the West Midlands and failed to deliver value for money to motorists.
 
The report’s findings come amid EU attempts to grab control over British roads and motorways and force through pay-as-you-go charges to use our roads.
 
The report states: “Toll roads are not, and will never be, a solution to congestion on British roads, no matter how attractive they may appear to cash-strapped politicians desperate to deliver otherwise unaffordable road schemes.
 
“Instead of promoting toll roads as a viable alternative to central Government money, the Department for Transport should use what little money remains in its coffers to maintain the roads we have and provide people with viable alternatives to car use.
 
“As we have seen from the M6 Toll, even a completely unregulated private sector cannot make money from toll roads. A regulated operator with fewer freedoms over the level of charges (as proposed by motoring organisations) would find it even harder to make a profit, unless supported by covert or overt taxpayer subsidies.”
 
Welcoming the report, Mr Nattrass said: “The report’s findings endorse everything I have said about the M6 Toll since it opened. The toll has been an expensive and embarrassing failure.
 
“The Toll, as the report states, has been overwhelming rejected by hauliers who instead pile onto the already congested M6.
 
“But despite this the EU wants to extend the toll motorways network under the European Electronic Toll Service Directive (EETS). It simply does not make sense.
 
“Our roads should remain in public ownership. We do not need anymore expensive failures like the M6 Toll,” he added.

The London MEP said: "The way it was sold to people 40 years ago and has been ever since is that we must have it for trade and jobs.

"We do not need it for trade and jobs, even the European Union has backed down from that argument. 

“What we need is trade with Europe and the rest of the world, friendship and cooperation. We do not need to be members of this vast bureaucratic organization in order to achieve that.”

See the full interview with Russia Today here.

When Prime Minister David Cameron  declared that he was in favour of Turkey being allowed to become a full member of the European Union it was possibly of little more than passing interest to people living  in the Exeter area or indeed the South West.

After all why should it be? The huge waves of immigration that the UK has seen over the past few years has had little or no impact on the region.Immigration, with its huge demands on schools, hospitals, housing and social services, was a problem for places like London, Birmingham or East Anglia.

Yet I firmly believe that  we in the South West should be concerned.I am not saying that tens of thousands of Eastern European immigrants are about to arrive overnight.It may not even happen for two or three years.

But it would be foolish to shrug our shoulders and believe it has nothing to do with us.

Presently Turkey has a population of nearly 80 million people. They are  the poorest nation in Europe and would have  the second highest population the EU behind Germany. Granting them full membership of the European Union would give every  Turkish citizen the right to not only come here to work but to settle with their families.

Of course not every Turkish citizen would immediately up sticks and come to live here. But remember when Poland became a member?

The Labour Government told us not to be alarmed as only a predicted 13,000 people would come here from eastern Europe. In the end the figure was well over a million.

So why should we be concerned about Turkish membership?

In the run up to the General Election few people - if any - realised what the Lib Dem policy on immigration was. Let me remind you.

It was to channel immigrants into areas of the country that had little or no immigrants. Away from the major cities and into areas where they could settle and work could be available. Places like the South West or  the Scottish Highlands.

Few people took notice because  everybody knew that the Lib Dems had no chance of gaining power.

But today - through a combinations of events, they are sharing power in a coalition government. They have not changed their  policy  on how to handle immigration.

And it is not just the threat of a wave of immigrants from Turkey. In recent weeks three EU member states, Bulgaria and Hungary have  issued millions of EU passports to their ethnic minorities living outside their own borders. People from places like Ukraine and Serbia.

Our membership of the European Union means that anybody with an EU passport has a legal right to come and  work in Britain. Our government cannot prevent it.

Today it is not politically incorrect to talk of immigration. People have accepted that it is not about race its about space. We are a small and overcrowded island and in many places social services are buckling under the strain of our open door immigration policy.

It is not too fanciful to fear that in the next year or so the Lib Dems views on immigration will hold sway within the Coalition.

Another danger for the South West in the  advent of Turkey joining the EU is that of funding. Because Turkey is so poor, with a GDP per head of around £10,000, it would qualify for huge amounts of development money at the expense of other countries and regions such as the South West.

In fact Cornwall and the Scilly Isles qualify for just over 77% of  development money as compared to Essex which is eligible for  nearly 100%.

That is why the threat to Exeter and the South West is very real. It is why dismissing immigration as a problem that somebody else will have to deal with is no longer enough.

Now is the time to let our elected representatives know that immigration  must be controlled now to avoid huge problems in the future.

Following a record number of 37 candidates for the seven vacant slots, at the conclusion of the counting of the votes by the team of 30 volunteers the following members were returned: Steve Allison, George Curtis, Hugh Williams, Jill Seymour, Mick McGough, Elizabeth Burton and Julia Reid.

George Curtis and Jill Seymour successfully retained their NEC seats.

After the count, Mr Nuttall said: "It was a complicated and time-consuming count for acting returning officer John Knotts and his team of voluteers and on behalf of the Party, I'd like to thank them for their efforts.

"I now look forward to seeing the new NEC members at their first meeting next Thursday on the eve of the Party's annual conference in Torquay."