European election results 2019: Brexit Party vow to take on Tories and Labour in general election as Tommy Robinson and UKIP obliterated
Labour hints at supporting second referendum as Liberal Democrats win Remain voters
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Your support makes all the difference.Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party has claimed victory in the European parliamentary elections, taking 29 seats and topping the poll in ten of the UK's 11 regions.
On a grim night for the Conservatives and Labour, the pro-EU Liberal Democrats emerged as the other big winners, with leader Sir Vince Cable saying it was “proof that the Lib Dems are the biggest, strongest voice of Remain”.
Theresa May said it was a "very disappointing night" for the Conservatives and once again urged MPs to find a solution to the Brexit crisis.
"Some excellent MEPs have lost their seats, some excellent candidates missed out," she said.
"But Labour have also suffered big losses. It shows the importance of finding a Brexit deal, and I sincerely hope these results focus minds in Parliament"
Boris Johnson, widely considered the frontrunner in the race to replace Ms May, said voters had delivered the Conservative party with a "final warning".
He urged his colleagues to deliver Brexit and "deliver Brexit and set out our positive plans for the country."
At the same time Labour edged closer to support for a second Brexit referendum, after voters in Remain strongholds deserted the party and voted for the Liberal Democrats.
In early-morning messages after seeing the party slump to third place with a 14 per cent share of the vote, both Jeremy Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell said that the issue of EU withdrawal must be put to a public vote – which could come in a general election or a Final Say referendum.
Mr McDonnell tweeted: “Can’t hide from hit we took last night. Bringing people together when there’s such a divide was never going to be easy. Now we face prospect of Brexiteer extremist as Tory leader and threat of no deal, we must unite our party and country by taking issue back to people in a public vote.”
If you would like to see how the EU election results night unfolded, please see what was our live coverage below:
Established centre-left and centre-right parties around Europe were the big losers in France, Spain, Italy and Germany.
A Brexit Party candidate who lives in the south of France has won election to represent the northeast of England in the European parliament.
Brian Monteith, a former Conservative member of the Scottish parliament, is one of two pro-Brexit candidates to win in the region, after Nigel Farage’s insurgent party pulled off a major victory in the EU elections on Sunday night.
He will be joined in Brussels by John Tennant, a former aide to Mr Farage who once praised a Ukip MEP for using a Nazi slogan to insult a German colleague.
The Conservatives have been issued with a “final warning” by voters in the European elections and face a “permanent haemorrhage” of support if they do not deliver Brexit, Boris Johnson has warned.
The Tory leadership frontrunner said his party would be “dismissed from the job of running the country” if it did not respond to Sunday night’s humiliation by taking the UK out of the EU.
Nigel Farage’s insurgent Brexit Party took nearly a third of the national vote to top the polls as a swell of support for the pro-Remain Liberal Democrats and Greens pushed to Conservatives down to fifth place.
British voters overwhelmingly rejected the far right in the EU elections, despite concern that anger over Brexit, terror fears and low turnout could gift extremists seats in the European Parliament.
While nationalists were victorious in Italy and France and populist groups saw gains in other parts of Europe, Tommy Robinson and UKIP saw dismal results.
Robinson lost his £5,000 deposit after receiving just 2 per cent of the vote in northwest England, blaming his removal from social media sites and “conspiring” media for the defeat.
Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice has said Westminster needs to "wake up" and "smell the coffee" over Brexit.
He told BBC Radio 4's World at One: "I seriously expect Westminster to listen this time and to understand that actually voters have just with their ballot paper, with their votes, said 'yes, we back these competent, capable, successful candidates, who are now MEPs, they need to come in, they've got experience in negotiation, and they believe in what they're negotiating for'.
"Frankly, Westminster and the civil servants, they've had their chance, they blew it, they messed up, they've led this country to a national humiliation and finally they need to wake up in Westminster, listen and smell the coffee, and say something needs to change."
Len McCluskey, the leader of the Unite union has urged Labour to stay united, ready to govern to "transform the country" despite the party's poor showing in the Euro elections.
"For that the blame lies firmly with the Tory party which has handled the Brexit process disastrously causing despair and disillusion among voters driving many to (Nigel) Farage and his simplistic offer," he said.
"Labour has been the only party that has sought to unite the nation on Brexit and this is an honourable objective that must not be abandoned.
"This is the time to hold our nerve because the true prize is the very real possibility of a looming general election.
"That is the opportunity for Labour to go to the people to present its programme to transform our country, rebuilding our communities and restoring hope to those who feel abandoned by Westminster.
"Faced now with the serious prospect of a no deal Tory prime minister, Labour must stay united and show the country that it is ready to lead."
Mr McCluskey added that some were now rushing to advance other agendas but were doing so to undermine Jeremy Corbyn.
He said: "They will be seen for what they are and never forgiven by the members."
Progressive parties around Europe are pinning their hopes on Spain to confront the populist right in the EU Parliament after the Socialist Party (PSOE) prevailed in a ‘Super Sunday’ of polls dominated by domestic division over Catalonia.
Although insurgent challenges loom large in Brussels and Barcelona – not least from exiled and jailed Catalan leaders who were elected MEPs – Spain’s Socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez translated his recent general election success into a hat-trick of overwhelming victories at the European, regional and local levels.
Poland's ruling Law and Justice party has emerged as the big winner in the country's European Parliament elections, taking over 45 per cent of the votes following an aggressive campaign against a united opposition.
It is the first win for the right-wing, nationalist party in European balloting and its best showing in any election to date.
The party has a difficult relationship with the EU. Last year the European Commission took legal action against Poland's government over judicial changes that observers undermined the rule of law.
The EU election results suggest Law and Justice has a good chance of winning Poland's national parliamentary elections in the autumn.
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