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:
Matteo Salvini, Italian deputy prime minister and potential builder of a far-right European alliance, has openly threatened to ignore eurozone budget austerity rules.
"The time has come to totally re-discuss old and outdated rules that have hurt Europe. Otherwise a vote like this cannot be explained, " he said on Monday.
Mr Salvini's party won 34 per cent of the Italian vote. Despite this, the overall result has been taken as a vote of confidence by mainstream leaders after nationalists won only modest gains across the continent.
"The European elections were tangible proof that European democracy is alive and well," Margaritis Schinas, chief spokesman of the executive European Commission, told reporters.
"The populists didn't win this election."
Niyazi Kizilyurek has been elected as an MEP in Cyprus, in a victory which is being celebrated as triumph over ethnic divisions.
The academic, a Turkish Cypriot, stood as a candidate for Akel, a Greek Cypriot opposition party.
Greek and Turkish Cypriots remain physically divided on Cyprus and Mr Kizilyurek will be the first Turkish Cypriot MEP to represent the nation.
"Turkish Cypriot participation creates the conditions for all citizens to understand that Europe can help us overcome problems facing the talks and create the conditions where we could be happy living in a reunited country," Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades said, after Mr Kizilyurek's victory.
Jeremy Corbyn has reportedly told Labour MPs that the Brexit crisis can only be solved by "going back to the people through a general election or a public vote", according to Sky News.
The Brexit Party would find it difficult to repeat last night’s stunning victory in a general election, and could even open the door to a Labour administration, experts have said.
Academics believe Nigel Farage's new party would struggle to gain more than a handful of seats in a general election.
Read more about the party's likely fortunes here:
Meanwhile in Austria, conservative chancellor Sebastian Kurz has been ousted, after losing a no-confidence vote.
Mr Kurz pulled the plug on his coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) earlier this month after a video emerged of his coalition partner and the Freedom Party’s leader Heinz-Christian Strache. Mr Strache appeared to offer favours to a purported Russian investor in the clip.
The chancellor had tried to depict himself as more of a victim of scandal than its enabler. But the centre-left opposition said he shared the blame and backed the no-confidence vote, along with the far-right.
Nicola Sturgeon has called for a new Scottish independence referendum to be held in 2020.
"There will be another Scottish independence referendum and I will make a prediction today that Scotland will vote for independence and we will become an independent country just like Ireland," the First Minister said on Monday.
"I want to see Scotland having the choice of independence within this term of the Scottish Parliament, which ends in May 2021, so towards the latter half of next year would be when I think is the right time for that choice."
Ms Sturgeon made the comments while on a visit to Dublin, where she met Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
"Scotland has been treated with contempt by Westminster and people are contrasting that with Ireland, that has been shown real solidarity and support from the European Union," she added.
"Suddenly this idea of being a small independent country in the European Union, we only have to look at Ireland to see the benefits of that and many people are having their eyes opened."
French president Emmanuel Macron is reportedly moving to build a coalition against the far-right bloc in Europe.
Mr Macron, whose En Marche party lost nationally in France to Marine le Pen's far-right group, is due to hold talks with the leaders of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
"The future majority of the European Parliament goes through us, without question. There isn't one without us," Pascal Canfin, one of the leading candidates from Mr Macron's party, told France Inter radio.
"The winners of the European elections were the Remain alliance...the runner up was Nigel Farage's Brexit Party," The Independent's latest editorial argues.
"The British people, therefore, are just as divided as their elected representatives. Constructing a majority for any one of the three main options – soft Brexit, hard Brexit or no Brexit – does not seem possible through conventional politics. That is why The Independent believes the nation will be driven towards a new referendum in the end."
Read the piece in full here:
Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has said he will call for early national elections, following the European parliamentary vote.
Mr Tsipras' ruling Syriza party was heavily defeated in Sunday's ballot, with voters left angry over the ongoing effects of austerity and the prime minister's willingness to recognise the name of neighboring North Macedonia.
The prime minister said he did not want to ignore the vote's message and would call an early election as a gesture of respect for the Greek people.
Steve Bannon, best known as a far-right adviser who previously worked with Donald Trump, is in Paris to celebrate the victories of nationalist parties in the European elections.
"You see the trend, and it's definitely nationalist-versus-globalist," he said.
He said the far-right would prevail, despite only making modest gains, by grinding the European Parliament to a halt: "Every day will be like Stalingrad," he added.
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