DENMARK’S centre-left prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt resigned yesterday after the success of a right-wing anti-immigration party lifted the centre-right opposition to victory in national elections.

Ms Thorning-Schmidt is also quitting as Social Democrat Party leader.

The right-wing Danish People’s Party (DPP) made large gains in Thursday’s elections and overtook Lars Loekke Rasmussen’s centre-right Venstre Party as Denmark’s second largest.

It meant that the right bloc, led by Mr Rasmussen, narrowly secured the 90 seats necessary for a parliamentary majority.

He is expected to become prime minister because he has the support of the other members of the bloc but to form a government, he must include the DPP.

His own Venstre Party lost 7 per cent of its support, shedding a quarter of its seats in parliament. Expenses scandals damaged the party, which only took 19.5 per cent of votes.

The DPP, opposed to immigration and sceptical of the EU, surged to 21 per cent, helping the opposition bloc to a total 51.5 per cent.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the rightwingers would seek cabinet posts or merely use parliamentary leverage to influence the government.

“The most important for the DPP is to get political influence,” said party leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl.

His party has called for Denmark to take back powers from Brussels and for border controls to be reintroduced on the boundaries with Germany and Sweden.

Election campaigns focused on welfare spending, the economy and immigration.

When she called the election three weeks ago, the prime minister attacked Mr Rasmussen’s continued commitment to austerity and his pledges to freeze public spending.

But both Ms Thorning-Schmidt and Mr Rasmussen played on fears of immigration by promising to further tighten immigration controls.

And talking tough on immigration aided the right-wing DPP when the country’s rising numbers of asylum-seekers became one of the top election issues.

Ms Thorning-Schmidt, who is married to British Labour MP Stephen Kinnock, lost the election even though her party remained Denmark’s largest party because the smaller members of her coalition lost support to the right.