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:
Councils in some areas have reported increased turnouts at this year's European elections.
The turnout for the South East is 39.36 per cent which was up from 36.3 per cent in 2014, while in Birmingham it had dropped from 32.4 per cent to 31.1 per cent this year.
In the South West, a turnout of 40.5 per cent has been recorded - three percentage points up on 37.4 per cent from 2014 while the North East has 32.7 per cent, slightly up on the 31.6 per cent of 2014, and Eastern had 36.4 per cent, much the same as the 36.6 per cent of 2014.
The turnout in Wales was five percentage points up on 2014 - 37.3 per cent as against 32 per cent in the previous Euro poll.
However, the turnout for Northern Ireland, at 45.1 per cent, was down from 51 per cent in 2014.
France's far-right nationalist leader Marine Le Pen has declared victory in the European elections over president Emmanuel Macron’s party.
UK turnout figures are expected later on Sunday evening, as final tallies roll in for an election both centrist parties and the far-right have portrayed as a referendum on sovereignty and the European Union.
Four days of voting will end on Sunday, after 426 million people across 28 nations were eligible to vote for the makeup of the European parliament.
In Britain, voters were electing MEPs who will lose their jobs when Brexit is finalised.
The leader of Spain's upstart far-right Vox party, Santiago Abascal, asked Spaniards to make "their voice heard" after he cast his ballot in Madrid.
"We come to these elections calling for participation from all Spaniards in accordance to their convictions and principles," Mr Abascal said.
"We want to tell them that it is important that each Spaniard has their voice in the municipal and regional institutions, also in the European institutions as, often, this is not seen with much interest by citizens."
Vox erupted into the Spanish political scene in December when it won its first seats in the regional legislature for the Andalusia region. It then won 10 per cent of the vote in national elections on 28 April to enter the Spanish parliament.
Founded in 2013, Vox failed to win a seat in 2014 European elections, its first electoral test. Unlike other European far-right parties, Vox is not anti-European Union despite its ultra nationalist ideology.
The center-right candidate to lead the European Union Executive's Commission has promised to bring "stability" to the European Union over the next few years and predicted pro-EU forces will lead the next parliament.
Manfred Weber, the candidate of the European People's Party, said in Berlin that Sunday's European parliament elections appeared to have weakened the political centre.
He said it is "most necessary for the forces that believe in this Europe, that want to lead this Europe to a good future, that have ambitions for this Europe, ... (to) work together."
He said those forces have to have a "clear division" from other political groups who oppose Europe on both the right and the left.
Mr Weber said the EPP will be "hopefully the strongest group" in the new European parliament. He said "we promised stability, and (we) will guarantee this stability in the coming years."
The highest turnouts by local authority in the West Midlands were Malvern Hills with 43.27 per cent, Stratford on Avon with 42.49 per cent, and Warwick with 42.04 per cent.
The lowest turnouts were in Stoke on Trent with 26.53 per cent, Sandwell with 27.93 per cent and Walsall with 28.72 per cent.
The regional voting turnout figure for London in the European Elections is 41.3 per cent, up from 40.1 per cent in 2014.
All 32 boroughs and the City of London have finished counting votes, the regional returning officer Janet Senior said.
French president Emmanuel Macron's party's pledged to combat nationalists at the European parliament and block them from weakening France.
The lead candidate of Mr Macron's centrist party, Nathalie Loiseau, urged all pro-European forces "to unite to defend the interests of the Europeans" and not let the European Union fall into the hands of "those who want to unbuild it".
In Yorkshire the local authorities with the highest voter turnouts were Harrogate with 42.78 per cent, Craven with 41.57 per cent and Hambleton with 40.68 per cent.
The lowest turnouts were in Hull with 24.04 per cent, Barnsley with 27.91 per cent, and North East Lincolnshire with 28.65 per cent.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is likely to call snap elections in June, a source in his Syriza party has told Reuters.
Syriza, in power since 2015, appear to have suffered a heavy defeat on Sunday in elections, trailing behind the main opposition New Democracy party. The leader of the New Democracy party has called on Tsipras to step down.
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