Labour suffered a historic defeat in the European elections, finishing third place behind the Conservatives and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). Voter apathy was evident in the historically low turnout of around 33%. In Scotland, voter turnout was only 28%. In the local elections, Labour finished third place behind the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats; Labour lost control of the four councils it had held prior to the election. The vote was widely considered to be a reaction to the expenses scandal; the share of the votes for all the major parties fell; Labour was down 1%, the Conservative share was down 5%. The minor parties, including the Green party and UKIP, were considered to have benefited from the public backlash against the major parties. Brown said that the results were "a painful defeat for Labour", and that "too many good people doing so much good for their communities and their constituencies have lost through no fault of their own".