David Cameron pledges to listen to voters in Wolverhampton i54 visit

The Prime Minister's flying visit to the city's £500m Jaguar Land Rover engine plant on the i54 business park came after the Tories were pushed into third place behind Ukip.

He denied that the Tories thrashing represented a breakthrough for UKIP who took second place as Labour held on to their safe seat.

Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats were dealt a humiliating blow when they polled just 1,176 votes - not enough to hold their deposit.

Wythenshawe is the latest in a number of by-elections that have seen Ukip take second place, including South Shields and Eastleigh last year.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage said he was pleased with the result and that the party's performance in increasing its share of the vote by 14.5 per cent to 18 per cent represented 'really good solid, steady progress', while Mr Kane said voters had 'sent a very clear message' to the Government.

But Mr Cameron said the result was not a breakthrough.

"When people know that there is a by-election they know that the Government isn't going to change, but obviously messages are sent and signals are sent and protests are made. Government should always listen to those and I always do," Mr Cameron said.

"Obviously, one would prefer to come second rather than third, but I don't think this is a particularly surprising result in Labour holding this seat.

"I don't think it was the sort of breakthrough that people were talking about."

Mr Cameron said that the JLR site 'epitomises' what is happening with the British economy.

"Too much growth has been focused on the South and not enough on export," he said as he inspected the site which is due to open early next year.

"This was the workshop of the world and Jaguar Land Rover is getting British people back to work."

Speaking to the Express & Star he said: "We need an export led recovery, we need high skills, research and development and this is a great British success story."

Around 1,400 people will work at the JLR site, which is now being fitted out with manufacturing machinery but it is estimated that a total of 3,500 jobs will be created within JLR and its supplier companies.

The factory will make new fuel-efficient four cylinder diesel and petrol engines for the next generation of Jaguars and Land Rovers, with the first engines going into a new Jaguar saloon early next year.

Recruitment at the factory is already under way, with around 4,000 people applying for the first 600 manufacturing jobs on offer.

The Prime Minister also addressed the issue of flooding, with barriers in place along the River Severn including Ironbridge and Bewdley.

"It's a very difficult time with the waters rising on the River Severn," he said.

"The flood defences are making a real difference. There is always more to be done and more lessons to be learned and I have been discussing what more we can do to protect homes and businesses around the region."

The comment come after he pledged earlier this week that money would be 'no object' when it came to dealing with the floods.

Asked whether he would repeat Communities Secretary Eric Pickles's apology for the Government's early response to the crisis, Mr Cameron said: "Of course I am very sorry for any way that people have suffered."

Mr Cameron said the Government's Cobra emergency committee met before Christmas to deal with the impact of the tidal surge on the east coast and soon after then as the Somerset Levels were flooded.

"Obviously, we are facing a very difficult time because we have got the wettest start to the year for 250 years and these are extraordinary weather events, but we are fighting on every front to help people," he said.

"We have deployed the military, we have got thousands of sandbags being put around people's houses, over 300,000 people had their electricity reconnected last night. If you look at the state of our flood defences, over 1.3 million homes have been protected by the flood defences that are in place.

"We are making sure that today, before the next rise in the level of the Thames over the weekend, we do everything we can to protect more homes and protect more communities."