Think we all need to take a minute and a long deep breath.

Since Thursday it seems politics went into overdrive. UKIP gaining more than 100 councillors although a surprise it was expected and many predicted it. So I don’t quite understand all the commotion.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not at all ignoring Thursday’s results or even belittling them, but I think we need to put things in prospective.

The UK independence party came almost from nowhere and won 139 county council seats. That by any standard is a result to be proud of because it took hard work and commitment to achieve. But back to that prospective, UKIP still does not control any council and have zero MPs. They will most probably, at the expense of the Conservatives and the LibDems, increase the number of their MEPs next year. But if they want to take the UK totally out of the EU, those MEPs will soon – by their party’s own doing – become obsolete.

UKIP’s surge although impressive is still young and volatile. Currently, the party have neither the knowhow nor the financial capacity to build and maintain this surge with the speed it was created. That in itself is a test and if they aren’t careful it could be their unmaking. In the past, we saw similar surges form the Greens, the BNP plus others that stalled and died in their infancy.

Nigel Farage talking about earthquakes, storms and waves of change is all well and good. But now that he leads 145 councillors. Voters, the media and the other parties will all be watching him and his elected team. To see what UKIP is about and how they work with each other and their opponents.

Winning election might seem like hard work but delivering to electorates is the hardest, even more so when you are the minority partners. We saw what happened to LibDems and even the Tories who are the larger partner.

The big issue for UKIP is not whether they are a protest vote, a pressure group or a real force here to stay. Their main concern should be how to deliver on what they promised and do the job they were elected to do. As the smaller member ( in some cases they have only one councillor) they need to work harder to be heard, become viable, make a difference and at the same time translate it all into public satisfaction.

Now the celebrations are over and the patting on the back is done next comes the work, the unforgiving test. The question everyone is asking, is UKIP able to deliver what they promised?