Pro-EU parties have won more votes in the European Parliament elections, but the split vote between has resulted in Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party taking the most seats.
The Liberal Democrats, Green Party, Change UK, SNP, and Plaid Cymru all campaigned on pro-EU manifestos, and collectively picked up 6,708,520 votes (42.7%), while the Brexit Party and UKIP received 5,797,881 votes (34.9%). Meanwhile, the Conservatives and Labour both haemorrhaged votes due to their unclear positions on Brexit, with Labour getting 2,347,255 votes (14.1%) and the Tories receiving 1,511,485
(9.1%).
Under the D’Hondt method of proportional representation used in the UK’s European Parliament elections, as the Brexit Party was the largest individual party, it received the most seats (29), an increase of five seats over UKIP’s previous tally. In second place were the Lib Dems with 16 MEPs, an increase of 15 over the previous elections, and the Greens also beat their previous record by four seats to make a total of seven. Conversely, Labour is lost 10 MEPs and now has a total of 10, whilst the Tories lost 16 MEPs and are down to a total of four.
Despite a plurality of the vote for Remain parties, Nigel Farage has claimed “there’s a massive message” to push for hard Brexit. He has also called on the government to give him a place on the negotiating team, despite failing to become an MP seven times and never having a role in government.
