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:
Guy Verhofstadt, leader for the Liberal group in the European Parliament, has tweeted his congratulations to the Lib Dems.
With almost all the results in from Scotland, the SNP seems likely to win three of the six Scottish MEP seats - with Scottish Labour losing its two MEPs.
Results from 31 of the 32 councils across Scotland showed the SNP, who fought the election campaign on a strong pro-European platform, had polled 37.7 per cent.
The party’s previous best Euro election result was 32.6 per cent in 1994.
Labour’s David Martin – who had been the UK's longest serving MEP having first been elected in 1984 – conceded he had lost his seat, with the party paying the price for its failure to take a clear stand on the crucial issue of Brexit.
The Brexit Party, who came second across Scotland, are on course to secure one MEP, as are both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.
The full results will be known later on Monday, when the figures from the Western Isles – which does not count votes on a Sunday – are declared.
Tory leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt has warned the very existence of the party he hopes to lead could be threatened by the Brexit backlash.
Hunt said it was a “painful result” and said there was an “existential risk to our party unless we now come together and get Brexit done”.
In a sign of how low the Conservatives have sunk, the party won just three seats in England and Wales, down from 18 in 2014. The Tories trailed in fifth place, behind the Brexit Party, Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Greens in terms of both vote share and seats won.
Prominent Brexiteer and MEP Mr Hannan, who retained his South East seat, has also responded to the result. “People voted to leave three years ago and we haven’t left, it’s as simple as that. I think I’m back as one of, I think it looks like being three Conservatives nationally. So without question our worst result as a party ever.”
A reminder that Ukip has lost all of its MEPs in the European Parliament, despite topping the vote in 2014.
The party’s support collapsed to only 3.3 per cent nationally after the insurgent Brexit Party came top of the polls.
Ukip leader Gerard Batten lost his seat in London, which he had held since 2004. The party's controversial candidate. YouTuber Carl Benjamin, who was second on the party’s South West regional list, also failed to get elected.
Mr Benjamin was condemned during the campaign for comments he made about Labour MP Jess Phillips. The 39-year-old, who styles himself online as the “Sargon of Akkad”, said he “wouldn’t even rape” the Labour MP and then refused to apologise for the remarks.
Lib Dem MP Layla Moran has called her party the “comeback kids” after winning 20 per cent of the national vote share – pushing Labour into third.
With at least 28 MEPs, Nigel Farage will lead one of the very largest parties in the European Parliament. The Brexit Party took 32 per cent of the vote share and topped the poll in nine of the 10 regions declared.
“Never before in British politics has a new party launched just six weeks ago topped the polls in a national election.
“The reason of course is very obvious: we voted to leave in a referendum, we were supposed to do so on March 29 and we haven’t.
“There’s a huge message here, massive message here - the Labour and Conservative parties could learn a big lesson from tonight - though I don’t suppose that they actually will.”
Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice has been elected to the European Parliament after his party cruised to victory in the East of England region.
Tice also claimed the party’s success sent a clear message to Westminster that millions of people wanted a WTO (World Trade Organisation) Brexit. He also said his party should play a significant role in future Brexit negotiations.
“We are incredibly humbled by the fact that millions of others across the country are backing our simple message to restore trust in democracy, and are sending a clear message back to Westminster that we want a WTO Brexit.
“We need strong, bold leadership and we need the Brexit Party MEPs to play a significant role in the negotiations.”
Tommy Robinson has blamed government “interference” with social media companies for his failure to secure a seat in the European Parliament.
Here’s all the details on his crushing defeat.
"The Brexit Party have won these elections. It doesn’t mean they have won the war, or won the argument," says Rachel Johnson - the sister of Boris Johnson. She had been standing for the newly-formed Change UK in the European elections.
A reminder that the Green Party pushed the Tories into fifth place in England and Wales, more than doubling its tally of MEPs.
The party’s sole Westminster MP Caroline Lucas said the “tremendous” result was part of a “Green wave sweeping across the EU”.
The number of Green MEPs in England and Wales rose from three to seven as its share of the vote increased by 4.6 per cent to 12.47 per cent, putting the party in fourth place, comfortably ahead of the Tories on 8.81 per cent.
The party won its first seats the Eastern, North West, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber regions as well as holding onto seats in London, the South East and the South West.
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