Remain parties easily scooped the biggest slice of the vote in the 2019 European Elections, leaving the Conservatives and Labour reeling as voters flocked to other parties against the government and official opposition.
The Liberal Democrats, Greens and Change UK all increased their vote considerably in the elections by trumpeting a pro-Remain, pro-Second Referendum card, with the SNP also receiving wide support in Scotland.
As things stand on Monday morning purely pro-Remain parties have 38 per cent of the vote, ahead of the pro-Leave Brexit Party plus UKIP on 36.8 per cent.
There will be 28 Brexit Party MEPs sitting in the European Parliament if Britain doesn’t negotiate a way out of the union before the first session convenes. The Liberal Democrats will send 15 MEPs and the Greens 7, while the Conservatives and Labour will send 3 and 10 respectively.
UKIP are on course to get too few votes to have a single MEP.
Everybody, including their own MPS can squabble what Labour and the Tories stand for.
If both parties are counted as being avowedly pro-Brexit, there is a majority for Brexit parties, though Labour’s official position is pro-People’s Vote, making the results a big majority for parties advocating a vote for the people to have the final say on Brexit.
Yet the majority of the reports this morning are predictably all about Nigel Farage rather than the 54.5% of votes for parties advocating a People’s Vote.
It’s certainly the BBC’s editorial line.
Nigel Farage has has the prime slot on the BBC’s coverage as the results came in, with the broadcaster still being accused of bias by Brexiteers after Nigel Farage’s attacks on the BBC when his past record was quoted back at him on the Marr show.
In London the Liberal Democrats won a 27 per cent share of the vote compared to Labour (24 per cent), Brexit Party (18 per cent) and Green (12 per cent).
The Tories came fifth in the capital, with just 8 per cent of the vote.
Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable said: “Our clear, honest, unambiguous message has won us our best ever European election result, and pushed Corbyn’s Labour into third place.
“We have shown ourselves to be the strongest Remain force in British politics.
“We will always stand up for the people who have put their faith in us, taking this mandate forward to campaign harder than ever to stop Brexit.”
Change UK candidate Rachel Johnson – who failed to become an MEP in the South West – said the fledgling party has helped boost the overall pro-Remain vote across the country.
“If you look at the tally of Change UK, the Lib Dems and the Greens, we are out-polling the hard Brexit parties – the Brexit Party and Ukip,” she told Sky News.
“So we have added hugely, or in some way, to a really strong and significant Remain showing across the country.”