Cheryl Baker, the Kent singer who won Eurovision in the 80s with her band Bucks Fizz, has blasted the contest's voting system following another night where not one single point was awarded to the UK.

James Newman represented the country at last night's ceremony, hosted in Rotterdam with his own song - a trumpet-heavy tune called Embers.

While none of the other countries' jury votes gave it any points, the stadium erupted in boos when it was revealed, following the public votes, the UK was still stuck firmly on nil points.

Italy were crowned the winners with four-piece rock band Måneskin, performing Zittie e Buoni, and scoring a huge 524 points.

Cheryl, who lives in Tunbridge Wells and is set to host a gig in her garden next month after the Covid crisis left her living off her pension, took to Twitter to blast the voting system.

She praised the Italian winners and said she gave them high points, but added: "Why did we get nil points? Were we the worst song? No, we weren’t. So blimmin’ frustrating."

Bucks Fizz stormed to victory in 1981 with their catchy single Making Your Mind Up.

Earlier in the night as it became clearer the UK was in trouble she wrote: "I hate this humiliating way of voting" and urged James Newman to hold his head high.

Cheryl rose to fame after her band won Eurovision. Bucks Fizz had three number one singles in the early 1980s and sold millions of records around the world.

It is the fifth time the UK has come last, and the second time it has received nil points. In 2019 the UK contestant was Michael Rice with Bigger Than Us, but unfortunately he also came in last place. It has been 24 years since the country last won the contest.

And last year we revealed the how performers from Kent have memorably contributed to the contest's history, whether that be in a good or bad way.

Newman smiled, got to his feet and cheered as the bad news came in.

Commentator Graham Norton said: "I'm trying to put a positive spin on it but I feel so sorry for James. A lot of disappointed people in that arena, but thrilled to be a part of Eurovision."

This year the competition returned with 26 countries after being cancelled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Of these, 20 countries take part in a series of finals to be selected to appear in the grand final.

The so-called 'big five' countries of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom are automatically enrolled into the contest and this year's host, the Netherlands, completed the numbers.

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