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Brexit party dominates UK European elections

waz

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The Brexit Party was the clear winner in the UK's European elections, with the pro-EU Lib Dems coming second.

The Conservatives and Labour suffered heavy losses, with the former expected to get less than 10% of the vote.

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said he was ready to "take on" the Tories and Labour in a general election.

Overall, out of 64 MEPs declared so far, Mr Farage's party has won 28, the Lib Dems 15, Labour 10, Greens seven, the Tories three and Plaid Cymru one.

Mr Farage told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "With a big, simple message - which is we've been badly let down by two parties who have broken their promises - we have topped the poll in a fairly dramatic style.

"The two party system now serves nothing but itself. I think they are an obstruction to the modernising of politics... and we are going to take them on."

  • Anti-Brexit parties - those in favour of another referendum - collectively took about 40% of the vote, compared with 35% for the two parties in favour of leaving the EU without a deal.

The deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, Jo Swinson, said the result should "give hope to all of the people out of there who want to stop Brexit", and that they "should not be giving up without a fight".

"When there is such a general shambles over Brexit, then [a further referendum] is the best way out of the impasse," she told Today.

Polling expert Sir John Curtice said the results showed just how polarised the country had become.

All 28 EU member states are electing MEPs to the European Parliament - the EU's law-making body. Overall, the big centre-right and centre-left blocs lost ground, amid a surge in support for liberals, Greens and nationalists.

The UK had been due to leave the EU on 29 March, but when that deadline was missed, participation in the election became mandatory.

The Brexit Party topped the polls in every region of England apart from London. It also dominated in Wales, with Plaid Cymru second.

Scotland is yet to formally declare, but with most votes counted, the SNP is on course for a resounding victory, with about 38% of the vote.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland's count does not begin until Monday, with the results expected on Tuesday.

  • The UK is electing 73 MEPs, and 10 out of 12 regions have declared so far
  • The Brexit Party has received the highest share of the vote in nine of the 10 regions - with 32% overall
  • The Conservative Party has been widely rejected by the electorate, coming in fifth place
  • The Lib Dems have taken second place with 20% of the vote - a vote that is clearly much higher in areas that backed Remain. In London, the Lib Dems came first and the Tories fifth
  • The Labour Party has fallen to third place overall - fifth in Scotland - and is on course to end up with less than 15% of the vote, an even worse performance than their previous low in 2009
  • The Green Party has also made gains, seeing its best performance since 1989
  • Newly-formed Change UK has not won any seats, while UKIP has also haemorrhaged support to The Brexit Party - both have gained about 3% of the vote
The Tory story
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said it was the worst performance for the Conservatives since the 1830s.

"If this was a first-past-the-post election, they would not have taken a single seat," she said.

Brexiteer and Conservative MEP for the South East Daniel Hannan - one of only three Tory MEPs elected so far - agreed it was his party's "worst ever result".

"We voted to leave (the EU) and we haven't left - it's that simple," he told the BBC.


Theresa May tried three times to secure MPs' backing for her Brexit plan and resigned as prime minister after her fourth attempt prompted a big backlash.

Tory leadership hopeful and former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the public had delivered "a crushing rebuke" to both major parties for failing to deliver Brexit.

Prominent Brexiteer and Tory backbencher Steve Baker said his party faced "obliteration" if they did not get on with leaving the EU as they had pledged.

"We have lost some excellent MEPs who didn't deserve to lose," he told BBC Breakfast.

"It is a grave time for our party and country, [but] I am not surprised that [the result] is as bad as it is. You just can't break promises you have made like this and expect to go unpunished."

Labour's losses
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn placed blame for that failure squarely with the Conservatives, arguing it meant the elections had "become a proxy second referendum".

He said his party would "reflect on these results on both sides of the Brexit divide" and the issue "will have to go back to the people" through a general election or a public vote.

Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson said the party needed to "urgently" rethink its Brexit position after the "disastrous" election results.

The party has been criticised for a lack of clarity on its Brexit stance and not appearing to appeal to either Leave or Remain voters. It has been divided over the issue of a further referendum, with some - including shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry - saying the party should call for another vote and campaign to remain.

Tweeting on Monday morning, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Labour "must unite our party and country by taking issue back to people in a public vote."

Alastair Campbell, former spin doctor to Tony Blair and prominent member of the People's Vote campaign for another referendum, said for the first time in his life he had voted for the Lib Dems.

Big gains for small parties
In contrast to the two biggest parties, some of the smaller ones with an unambiguous message on Brexit were rewarded.

Lib Dem Sir Ed Davey said his party was "leading the Remain vote" and had "an awful lot to be pleased about".

Green Party co-leader Sian Berry said the case for a further referendum was stronger than ever, adding: "Giving the people the final say over the country's direction is now clearly the only way forward, the way to draw a line under the Brexit chaos.

"The vote tally for clearly Remain parties is higher than for that of the Brexit Party and UKIP. The people have spoken."

Change UK failed to win any seats in the election, but leader Heidi Allen told the BBC her party - newly formed from ex-Labour and Tory MPs - was "down, but we are not out".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48417228
 
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Excellent to see all the lies about people having changed their minds, or that if another referendum was run remain would win being destroyed. :rolleyes:

I told people from the start and now have the hard numbers to prove it. The country and its people are for leave, with a minority for remain. The vast majority of wards in England Wales voted for the Brexit party.
This was sort of a rerun of the vote and look what happened.

Onwards with Brexit!
 
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Excellent to see all the lies about people having changed their minds, or that if another referendum was run remain would win being destroyed. :rolleyes:

I told people from the start and now have the hard numbers to prove it. The country and its people are for leave, with a minority for remain. The vast majority of wards in England Wales voted for the Brexit party.
This was sort of a rerun of the vote and look what happened.

Onwards with Brexit!
:D
 
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London wants to remain the rest of england and wales wants to leave its thst simple
 
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@waz help me understand this....if the brexit party does not want UK to be a part of the european union anymore in the future why do they take part in these elections then....they shouldve boycotted it
 
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London wants to remain the rest of england and wales wants to leave its thst simple
Is it? 51% said leave, whilst 49% said remain. Recent polls show that more people want to remain now. The country is more divided than ever, a lot of the country voted to remain as well.
800px-United_Kingdom_EU_referendum_2016_area_results.svg.png


@waz help me understand this....if the brexit party does not want UK to be a part of the european union anymore in the future why do they take part in these elections then....they shouldve boycotted it
It was the European Parliament election. Who wins will push their agenda. Now that Brexit Party has won they will push for a WTO Brexit.
 
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now that conservatives have lost seats in the European elections they are more adamant to deliver the brexit because they fear if they cant deliver these other parties will gain further momentum
 
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Time for a general election and a second referendum on any proposed deal.

Pro remain parties won the most votes yesterday. This whilst the Labour Party is foolishly trying to keep a foot in both camps.
 
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Anti-Brexit parties took 40% of the vote compared to 35% for Brexit parties.

In another referendum, remain will win!

Erm what? Brexit parties did not get anything like that! You took this from the BBC above who shamefully did not include the conservative vote share who will be now even more hellbent on leaving without a deal!

As per the BBC charts;

_107119509_overview-nc.png


The labour party is in confusion i.e. they want to leave but haven't been clear, as in some of them want another a referendum, some want a customs one, some want to leave with no deal etc. I met Labour voters who were pro-remain and pro-leave so I'll leave them out to be fair.


Remain parties;

Lib Dems 20.3
Greens 12.1
SNP 3.6
Plaid 1
Change uK 3.4

Total 40.1%

Brexit parties;

Brexit party 31.6%
Conservatives 9.1%
UKIP 3.3%

Total 44%.

Also look at how our system works, how would remain win? 9 of the 10 voting regions voted for Brexit, this would be complete destruction for remain if it was put to the people. They simply do not have enough wards or voting regions.


Time for a general election and a second referendum on any proposed deal.

Pro remain parties won the most votes yesterday. This whilst the Labour Party is foolishly trying to keep a foot in both camps.

No need remain lost last night end of story. Pro remain didn't win more votes than Brexit, look at the data. They lost 9 out of the 10 regions.

now that conservatives have lost seats in the European elections they are more adamant to deliver the brexit because they fear if they cant deliver these other parties will gain further momentum

Yep full WTO rules Brexit on its way.


1887904.jpg
 
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Single issue party is a joke. Brexit should be honored though. Hopefully the people will see the hard line leavers like farage have no idea what to do after brexit. Farage will live comfortably, not sure about others.
 
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Single issue party is a joke. Brexit should be honored though. Hopefully the people will see the hard line leavers like farage have no idea what to do after brexit. Farage will live comfortably, not sure about others.


That is the problem - no-one can agree what kind of Brexit it should be.
 
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