UK may quit Eurovision amid fears tactical voting is turning competition into a farce

After being disadvantaged by tactical voting again, despite being one of the biggest funders of the event, a new blow is on the horizon for British hopes.

Following Saturday night's debacle in the final, when Andy Abraham came joint last, the UK may be forced to qualify in future.

Russia's Dima Bilan won the Eurovision this year after receiving maximum points from former Soviet states Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia

As a result of this year's events Sir Terry Wogan has questioned whether Britain should keep taking part and raised doubts about his future on the show.

But now our guaranteed status as a participant in the final is under threat and will be discussed by the European Broadcasting Union in two weeks time.

Previously the "big four" of UK, Germany, France and Spain received an automatic place in the final because they put the most funding in to the competition.

The BBC is said to have an 'open mind' about the proposals, which could see the UK fail to make the final for the first time in the event's history.

While Russia won Saturday's contest thanks to the votes of most of its nearest neighbours, the "big four" all came in the bottom 10.

There is now a feeling that Britain will never again win the competition because of the endemic bloc voting on the competition.

BBC1's ratings for this year's event, perhaps as a result of the growing cynicism, were also down, with 7.1 million viewers on Saturday, compared with last year's 8.7 million.

Eurovision chiefs have suggested there may be resentment from other nations at the fact the big nations automatically qualify for the final.

Any move to make the UK qualify for the final is likely to lead the BBC cutting its funding for the event.

The prospect of BBC1 airing a three-hour final without the UK in it is likely to massively dent its ratings over here.