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:
Liberal Democrats leader Sir Vince Cable has tweeted: “A clear, honest, unambiguous message has won LibDems our best ever European election result. We have shown ourselves as the strongest Remain force in British politics.
“Thank you to everyone who put their faith in us. We will stand up for you and keep campaigning to #StopBrexit.”
Many noting that the combined vote share of the three strong Remain parties – the Lib Dems, the Greens and Change UK – it’s more than the 32 per cent the Brexit Party has taken. It’s a point Green co-leader Sian Berry has made on the BBC.
If you count the nationalists in Scotland and Wales, you could argue the Remain parties are on course to win this election. Those in favour of a second referendum will certainly take some comfort from combining the vote share as the @EuropeElects account has done.
Change UK candidate Gavin Esler has thanked voters in London after failing in his attempt to win a set for the region. “Now the real fight begins,” he says on efforts to get a second referendum.
We’re still waiting for the result vote in Scotland, before Northern Ireland concludes the election by declaring later on Monday morning. The BBC's projection has the SNP topping the poll north of the border, with Labour down in fifth – fifth! – in the country it once dominated politically. The same projection has Nigel Farage's Brexit Party winning one MEP seat in Scotland.
In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party has come out on top in France with 24 per cent of the vote in an embarrassing defeat for Emmanuel Macron, who has made EU integration the heart of his presidency.
His party drew just over 21 per cent, according to government results.
In Italy, far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini has said the European parliamentary vote shows “that the rules are changing in Europe”.
Projections showed his party the League has won 33 per cent of the vote in Italy, at least 10 points ahead of the Democratic Party in second place. The League’s coalition partners, the 5-Star Movement, suffered a blow, finishing third with just 19 per cent of the vote.
Salvini told supporters that the results show “a new Europe is born. I will say to those who have sunk the European dream, transforming it into a nightmare, that I am proud that the League participated in this new rebirth of a sunken Europe.”
In Spain, meanwhile, caretaker prime minister Pedro Sanchez says his victorious Socialists will push for a Europe focused on social welfare and against austerity measures after winning the European elections.
With 98 per cent of the votes counted late Sunday, the Socialists won 20 of the 54 seats allocated to Spain in the European Parliament.
Sanchez says Spain is going to be the leading delegation of Socialists on the European stage. He calls that “a source of enormous pride and an enormous opportunity for us but also an enormous responsibility.”
The Lib Dems have been celebrating their victory in London. The party won the popular vote over the city, including in more than a dozen key Labour and Tory-voting areas, and took three of the region’s eight seats in the European Parliament.
Labour won two, down from four in 2014, the Conservatives lost both their seats while the Brexit Party gained two, the Greens retained one and Ukip lost one.
Irina von Wiese, Dinesh Dhamija and Luisa Porritt will now serve as MEPs for the party. Porritt said: “I'm absolutely delighted that the position we’ve had against Brexit from the outset since we had the referendum is finally paying off for us.
“I knew it would be on a knife edge, the polls in the last week suggested I might be on the cusp of getting in, as third on the list, but we had no idea it would go our way, even up to the last minute.”
She added: “The main thing is that the Liberal Democrats are back on the political map and third-party politics is here again to stay in the UK.”
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