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:
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has reportedly said that a second Brexit referendum is the "only option" for Labour going forward.
"Of course we want a general election, [it's] highly unlikely the Tories are going to vote for that now...turkeys don't vote for Christmas," he said in an interview with Sky News.
The Labour leadership had earlier indicated the party would support a "public vote", in which the public would consider Brexit options in a general election or a second referendum.
Counting in Ireland is yet to finish but it is clear that Sinn Fein's vote has fallen sharply. The party has also lost council seats.
"Clearly we are disappointed with those results and we will have to have a full analysis of all of that - we will do that throughout the course of time," Michelle O'Neill, the party's vice president said.
"I think it's a combination of reasons you could point to very quickly, not least the surge of the Greens and I think the fact in working class areas the vote didn't come out.
"So we will have a full analysis of all of that. Clearly we are disappointed but you know what - we will dust ourselves down and we will go back at it again."
"Last night’s results show that the SNP have managed to momentarily position Brexit as the central issue in Scottish politics," argues our columnist Louis Staples, in his piece on Nicola Sturgeon.
"With a huge amount of help from Labour and the Tories, Sturgeon is succeeding in equating unionism with Brexit," he writes.
"The union is now tarred with the Brexit brush, and Scotland is still opposed to leaving the EU. Who would bet against Sturgeon’s chances from here?"
Read the piece here:
Green Party candidates experienced a surge of support in Sunday's vote, in the UK and across Europe.
"Almost 70 Green MEPs were elected, with huge surges of support in Germany, France, Ireland, and Finland. In the UK the Green Party won a record seven seats – more than doubling our best tally in a European election." writes newly elected MEP Alexandra Phillips.
Read her piece about why she's excited to get to work here:
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