you're watching a bbc news election special. the brexit party a clear winner in the poll, liberal democrats taking second place in a tough night for conservatives and labour. the brexit party formed only six weeks ago are the big winners, gaining almost one third of the vote and 28 meps. we have a mandate and want the government to include us in their own negotiating team. we have to get ready for leaving the european union in october the 31st. there is a lot we can do. the liberal democrats campaign to stop brexit and come second with around 20% of the vote. the green party made significant gains, posting their best

performance in 30 years. i am at westminster where the two main parties suffered heavy losses. labour fall to parties suffered heavy losses. labourfall to third parties suffered heavy losses. labour fall to third place overall with less than 15% of the vote, prompting pressure on jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit. prompting pressure on jeremy corbyn's approach to brexit. we went into an election where the most important issue was what was our view on leaving the european union and we were not clear about it, we we re and we were not clear about it, we were not clear on the one single thing that people wanted to hear. the conservatives are pushed into fifth place with an historic low of under 10% of the vote. the home secretary says the results are hugely disappointing and another minister said it is time to rethink strategy. it is a wake-up call to collea g u es strategy. it is a wake-up call to colleagues in parliament we have to deliver on the instruction of the british people in 2016, the brexit referendum. in scotland, the snp dominate winning 38% of the vote and

in wales, labour in third place behind the brexit party and plaid cymru. we will bring all results in the picture across europe, where turnout is up in the traditional parties have lost out to smaller ones, changing the balance of power in the european parliament. good morning and welcome to this bbc news eu election special. in a major blow for the largest parties at westminster, the brexit party emerge as the clear winner in the poll for as the clear winner in the poll for a new european parliament. formed six weeks ago, nigel farage's party

w011 six weeks ago, nigel farage's party won 28 seat so far and received almost a third of the share of the vote. labour and tories posted some of their worst results ever. the liberal democrats and greens who oppose brexit have increased their vote and seats. the home secretary said the results were hugely disappointing and a verdict on brexit. with ten out of 12 regions declared, we can look at those results in detail. it is the brexit party that gained the larger share of the vote with almost a third, with 32%. the liberal democrats took second place with 20%, up 13 points, compared to their result in the last eu elections of 2014. labour, third, with 14%, down 11 points on last time. the greens gained 12% of the vote and conservatives fell to a

historic low. fifth place and 9% of the vote. we are still waiting for final results in scotland, but the snp have polled strongly and the ukip vote fell to just 3%. the new change uk failed to make much impact. 73 seats in the european parliament were up for grabs with the brexit party so far winning 28. the liberal democrats have won 15 and gain one in 2014. labour have ten meps, losing eight. the greens doubled their seats —— make more than doubled their seats. and the impact on the conservative party, they have just three meps, down. plaid cymru have won one seat after beating labour in wales. the final result in scotland will be declared this morning. counting in

northern ireland starts today. the first report today comes from our political correspondent and his report contains flash photography. a vote that wasn't supposed to take place to a parliament we're supposed to have left. a result which shows the country is still bitterly divided. the big winners — two parties with very different but very clear messages on brexit. brexit now! nigel farage's brexit party topped the poll, with almost a third of the vote. the reason, of course, is very obvious. we voted to leave in a referendum. we were supposed to do so on march 29th and we haven't. the liberal democrats, with their anti—brexit message, had a big night, too — coming second across the uk. every vote for the liberal democrats is a vote to stop brexit. for the two parties that normally dominate british

politics, it was a disaster. the conservatives were thumped — finishing fifth, with less than 10% of the vote. three years ago, the country voted to leave. it's three years on and we haven't left. and, inevitably, therefore, people were going to be drawn in a polarised way to the single—issue pro— or anti—brexit parties. labour, too, were punished, finishing third with less than 15%. that will spark a heated debate about whether it should now get fully behind another referendum. we're now going to find ourselves in a position where we will have a tory leadership who will insist on either a bad deal or no deal at all, and i fear it will be no deal and, in those circumstances, we must be equally clear, and it will be a disaster for our country to have no deal. there should be a referendum and we should campaign to remain. the green vote was up, too — they beat the conservatives into fourth place. ukip were wiped out. and change uk failed

to make their mark. in scotland, the snp were miles ahead, on almost 40%. the party will take three of the six seats there. in wales, the brexit party topped the poll. plaid cymru came second. labour, a party who have dominated welsh politics for a century, finished third. northern ireland counts today. it was a good night for parties who have taken a firm stand on brexit, but voters are still split between parties who back leaving the eu as soon as possible and those who want another referendum and, ultimately, to stay. if you were hoping this would end the brexit debate, you may well be disappointed. nick eardley, bbc news. we can take you to westminster. the two major parties have had a difficult night. they will be waking up and facing

soul—searching after that strategy for labour and the tories to keep both supporters on either side —— supporters of either side on side. the result is terrible for labour and the tories. the question for both is which direction do they take now? the tory leadership race is under way and last night is now likely to have a big impact on how theresa may's perspective successive pitches, brexit solution and all the suggestions and pointers are in favour of it being a strongly pro—brexit candidate. labour, there are also questions about their future policy and overnightjeremy corbyn indicating it may well be to push for a second referendum. they have been toying with that idea but jeremy corbyn saying in the coming days that is a question they are going to be strongly considering. we can bring in norman smith, who is

also in westminster. in terms of providing further clarification, it is again raising more questions. what is your analysis? the honest truth is we are not much further on than where we were from the original brexit referendum. we remain a bitterly divided country where the potential for compromise and building a consensus seems to be crumbling because if you look at the two main victors in this euro election, clearly nigel farage's brexit party with a clear message to get out with no deal, and if you look at the explicitly pro—referendum smaller parties, they have done well. the big losers are those who have modelled in the centre ground, namely the traditional main parties, labour and the tories. the implications for both are immense and i suspect there will be a gravitational pull on both

jeremy corbyn and whoever takes over the tory party to move in the tory sense towards no deal and for mr corbyn to move towards another referendum. if you are a tory mp, tory party member, wondering who to choose in this leadership contest, you are surely going to think, we need somebody who can see off nigel farage, which presumably will mean the most uncompromising, no—nonsense, no deal person in town, which could well be borisjohnson. we do not know, because the threat nigel farage poses is not merely trouncing the parties in the euro election but he was that if the uk does not leave without a deal by october the 31st, he will put up candidates in any forthcoming general election in all 650 seats. there is much more change needed in

british politics. the two party syste m british politics. the two party system is not fit for purpose. there are institutions like the lords that have become a parody of themselves. there is a lot of work to do to modernise and change the shape of british politics, but our primary goal is to get this country to be independent and self—governing. if that does not happen and we do not leave on the 315t of october, what you will see is the brexit party stunning everybody at the next general election. huge impact on the tory party, but also on the labour side. i think we are beginning to see massive pressure heaped on mr corbyn to end this ambiguous stance on brexit and to explicitly embrace the idea of another referendum. we saw that last night with emily thornberry saying the party needs to get off the fence and start talking about a referendum and start talking about a referendum and campaigning for remain. interesting in the statement put out overnight by mr corbyn, he talks

about another public vote, meaning a general election or referendum, but there is no mention in mr corbyn's statement of campaigning to deliver on brexit, to deliver a labour brexit. that appears to be disappearing. a view echoed byjohn mcdonnell in a tweet he put out, also no mention of delivering on brexit, just saying labour needs to back a public vote. in the meantime, the lib dems are seen as the big remain party and that was the message from their president sal brinton. people had written us off and said we could not recover and i am so and said we could not recover and i am so proud of our members, 100,000 members who have worked hard, built up, helped us with a strong message, hundreds of thousands of people who joined our stop brexit campaign that resulted in millions of people voting for us as the strongest remain party. we got our best ever european election results and it is

encouraging for the future. you are left with a sense that the both —— the main parties will be pulled away from the centre ground with the tories having to embrace no deal and labour having to embrace another referendum. you kind of wonder, where we got two in the past three yea rs ? where we got two in the past three years? we seem almost to be getting back to square one where we started the process. either for back to square one where we started the process. eitherfor leave, or for remain. nothing changes here in westminster in the terms of the make—up of parliament and we have seen how things have gone in trying to get some form of consensus. the days and weeks ahead will be vital to see which direction both of the main parties take on what that means for whether the country has to go back to another vote here to get clarity in terms of what happens in westminster. i will hand you back to

the studio. the picture in the rest of europe is changing with shifts away from the main parties to gains from smaller ones. this means the blocks —— blocs and alliances will change. what is the picture across europe? you talk about blocs and alliances, the results on the ground translate into real power through the blocs and alliances, how groupings come together. what has happened? groupings come together. what has happened ? the groupings come together. what has happened? the momentum out of this is going to the greens and liberals, who have done surprisingly well, parties that view themselves, smaller parties, who view themselves as climate policies, open to migration, defending democratic

values in europe. they have done well last night and although the big old groupings of the christian democrats around angela merkel on the centre—right, the socialist, social democrats on the centre—left have fallen, the other pro—eu parties have risen and that pro—eu group holds the real bulk of seats and that is a surprising result because their nationalists, the far right, did well in italy, yes. they did well in france, marine le pen topping the poll just did well in france, marine le pen topping the polljust but with not much momentum there. elsewhere, the far right stumble. so in smaller countries such as finland, denmark and the netherlands, not doing as well as expected. the far right wave has not really appeared and we get that central eu grouping. this time, the greens and liberals coming with a greater presence, holding on. that

is the broad picture. in terms of brexit, how do you think people in brussels will be viewing the success overnight of the brexit party and nigel farage? the first thing they contemplate is the return of british meps with a big contingent led by nigel farage. many in the european parliament openly not relishing that prospect. but viewing the fact the british meps could only be her massive week if they leave by the end of october. so they will not shift the balance in the long—term, what they do is shift the balance immediately, while the eu is debating and choosing the new top jobs for running the eu institutions and all of those will be decided in the coming weeks. the head of the commission, president of the council, donald tusk and jean—claude juncker‘s replacements. the

breakdown of parties here will be reflected in those negotiations, which is a more wide question, because of those big central groupings seeing their vote share split and spread across the others. that will be a battle going on behind—the—scenes as they try to lay those out. broadly on the brexit question, what is interesting is what we have seen, the other sceptical parties in the eu has softened position, in italy and france, in the netherlands. not calling for their own countries to follow the uk out. they have called for reforms within the eu, return of powers to nations rather than the centre, but not an exit of their own, and that is a trend i think we will see followed into the parliament. brexit not translated into changes here. thank you. more reaction here at westminster. thank you. with me now is the conservative

mp and deputy chairman of the european research group steve baker. in your view does the tory party need to out nigel farage —— nigel farage? we need to be ourselves. we need to be deciding who we want to be and follow through on the decision of the referendum and do what we said in our manifesto? in terms of what it means for the future direction of the conservatives, the headline is the brexit party have done incredibly well and are the winners, but if you look at the total of the vote share, and he brexit parties took 40.4% of the vote and pro—brexit 34.9%.ij and he brexit parties took 40.4% of the vote and pro-brexit 34.9%. i am sorry we have lost great meps but those numbers are propaganda. if you add in the conservative party, which is for leaving and just leave the labour party, is being undecided,

you still get leave outstripping remain. it is a murky picture when you try to divide... what i have added up specifically are the parties that are on the site of remain versus no deal. you can go and look at my twitter feed. i have just read tweeted and they have corrected the bbc figures. if you have the conservatives as a leave party the country voted for leave parties. the conservative and labour party stood on manifestos to take is out of the eu and we cannot now reinvent the platforms and mandates. the conservative party strategy was to try to keep supporters on both sides of the brexit debate in the camp? in so far as the conservative party had a campaign it was to put

pressure on people like me who did not support the deal and colleagues who did not support it at each of the votes. it was asking people to vote, the public to vote for the deal, and they did not. there is no mandate for this withdrawal agreement out of this election result and we need to learn from that. this decision is crystallising into leaving without a withdrawal agreement, possibly on wto terms but offering the eu a set of treaties to match the offer they make to us last year, or remain. the conservative party if it is to survive needs to be willing to leave the eu with treaties table to the eu to match their offer. what these results... you say about people trying to use results to indicate what they think they say about the country and what they say about the country and what they want, but the results do not say there is a majority for a no—deal brexit. say there is a majority for a no-deal brexit. the results are on a low turnout and i have had leave voter after leave voters say what is the point of voting? they can see

the point of voting? they can see the point of voting? they can see the point because we are poring over the point because we are poring over the entrails of these results. we look at what we have got and there is no point in wondering what people might have voted for if they voted. iam might have voted for if they voted. i am trying to encourage people to vote in elections. that is a good thing but a separate argument. in terms of looking at the results and what they indicate, there is not a majority in the country according to the results for a no—deal brexit. the standout fact of the result is the brexit party being runaway winners. if it had been a general election on first past the post we would not have won any seats and they would be governing the country which should be a wake—up call and their policy is no—deal brexit. a problem the public will have as we pour over the results is there is something in these results everybody but the winners of this election i am sorry to say, because they should not have taken place, is the brexit party. this is a challenge to the

conservatives, what will be due to keep promises and what will be do if we keepjeremy corbyn out of power? they are obviously... there is a question of leadership, clear it up because you have been saying not out standing. there is dominic raab and borisjohnson in the same camp as you. boris and dominic are talented people who are clearly in the lead but the reality is the third presentation of the deal they voted for and presentation of the deal they voted forandi presentation of the deal they voted forand i did not, presentation of the deal they voted for and i did not, that has caused people to ask me to stand and i will think about it seriously and by next weekend i will have made a decision. iam weekend i will have made a decision. i am conscious we have too many eurosceptic candidates already. it would be better to converge on one or two. through this week, as things move fast, we will have to think carefully about what we will do. are you saying boris and dominic raab would not be credible candidates and therefore you are the one?” would not be credible candidates and therefore you are the one? i am not going down that path. they both have

great credentials and records but it isa great credentials and records but it is a matter of fact they voted for the deal at the third go and i did not which has caused activists outside to ask me to stand. when will you be clear on this? members of the media have asked me whether i am standing and i need to decide this week and events will move fast and various polls would emerge. on friday, my odds collapsed down to as low as 25—1 on becoming the next leader, so i need to think carefully and look at how events develop. is the leader, for the tory party, a recipe for us having another general election? there is no way parliament would support what you would want the country to do. ido the country to do. i do not accept that. i want the country to land a relationship of the character the european union offered last year, defence and security cooperation, a great free trade agreement, participation in

institutions, research, education, culture. this sounds like a leadership bid. it is the offer the eu made and i would like to deliver. there are questions for labour and how they interpret the results. the shadow chancellor says the labour party cannot hide from what he called the hit we took last night. he tweeted. .. lets go to leeds and we can speak to richard burgin, and labour mp and shadowjustice secretary. richard burgin, and labour mp and shadow justice secretary. is richard burgin, and labour mp and shadowjustice secretary. is that confirmation labour will push for a second referendum ? confirmation labour will push for a second referendum? we have to be clear about the increased danger of a disastrous no—deal brexit and all the damage it would mean for the economy and jobs and living

standards becoming a reality, because of changed circumstances in the conservative party. that could be borisjohnson the conservative party. that could be boris johnson or someone the conservative party. that could be borisjohnson or someone else pushing it, but as a labour party we need to use every mechanism to stop that no—deal brexit and that means a general election, public vote, no confidence motion. if it takes a public vote to stop a disastrous no—deal brexit, we will pursue that. when will that become clear? events are unfolding on a day—to—day basis, but what we need to do across the opposition parties is to step up to the plate and explain to the public exactly what a no—deal brexit means, including opening up our economy to the kind of free—market madness that characterises the us and including opening up the nhs potentially to multinational corporations from the united states. sorry, you are going the next step down the road, which

is talking about the arguments there would be in the event of having to campaign againsta would be in the event of having to campaign against a no—deal brexit, which sounds like you are saying this is what we will do in the event ofa this is what we will do in the event of a referendum. we need to stop a no—deal brexit or disastrous tory brexit happening and we need to use any mechanism to stop that. a no confidence motion in the new prime minister, who really has no democratic legitimacy when he or she ta kes democratic legitimacy when he or she takes over without an election, pushing for a general election and a public vote to stop a disastrous tory brexit or no—deal brexit. public vote to stop a disastrous tory brexit or no-deal brexit. will labour now be the party of remain quite? labour now be the party of remain —— remain? tom watson said previously labour is now the party of remain. in the referendum we campaign to remain in but reform the european union. the tories campaign

to remain, as well. at the last election we said we respected the result of the referendum, but the danger of a no—deal brexit pushed by borisjohnson or someone danger of a no—deal brexit pushed by boris johnson or someone else danger of a no—deal brexit pushed by borisjohnson or someone else is becoming increasingly likely. if there were for example a public vote and that public vote was between a no—deal brexit and remain, clearly the labour party could not back a no—deal brexit in such circumstances, because we believe it would be bad for the economy and living standards of people in this country. there has been no mention from jeremy corbyn orjohn mcdonnell of seeing through the result of the referendum. which does make it look like the party will become the party of remain. if we were in government today, we would try to negotiate a decent deal and tried to bring people together who voted leave and

remain. we are not in government yet. we think a general election is democratic and should take place sooner rather than later now that theresa may is gone, a tory prime minister on the way who is elected by not very many conservative party members and certainly not decided upon by the country. if a general election takes place in the usual way, the democratic party will decide on our policy. whether that election takes place before an exit from the eu or after a disastrous tory backed no—deal brexit from the european union. do you accept what we have seen is that the strategy you have outlined previously was to keep talking about what we would do if we were in power has failed and trying to keep everybody on the side has failed? people want clarity, thatis has failed? people want clarity, that is what they voted for last night. bringing people together is the right thing. you cannot

extrapolate from our disappointing results from an eu election to a general election. nigel farage's ukip in 2014 came top in the eu elections and the hereafter in the general election got one mp. as much asi general election got one mp. as much as i would love it to happen, i do not think the conservatives will get less tha n not think the conservatives will get less than 10% in the next election as they did in the eu elections. it became the eu referendum inevitably ona became the eu referendum inevitably on a lower... to the eu elections on a much lower turnout than a referendum or general election so i do not think we canjump referendum or general election so i do not think we can jump from the outcome of these eu elections to a general election. we are ahead in the polls for a general election and we are confident we could win a general election. is it a good night for labour? of course not. the tories have had their worst results in 200 years and we are back to our

vote share from 2009 eu elections which is disappointing and we need to listen and discuss things with people in the party and trade union affiliates and voters who voted remain and leave in the country. lot of soul—searching going on at westminster in the coming days and weeks. the tories are already heading for a leadership contest which will decide the future direction of the party but questions being asked of labour in terms of what their strategy is going to be. politics continues to be interesting. for now, back to the studio. joanna, thank you. let's explore this a little bit further with political scientist professorjohn curtice. john, you've been up all night, thank you for staying with us. different people interpreting these results very differently but what is your interpretation? many people saw

this in some ways is another referendum, really, people voting leave or remain through the parties. it certainly was another referendum in so faras it certainly was another referendum in so far as a substantial body of voters opted to vote for either party is that said we should leave without id, parties that otherwise haven't done terribly well in elections recently or for parties that said we should definitely have a second referendum and again including the liberal democrats who haven't been doing that well recently and they have forsaken the traditional two parties who are being accused either of failing to deliver and or presenting too much ofa deliver and or presenting too much of a fudge. clearly, during the course of the campaign, support for conservative and labour fell and voters use this, many of them, to express their displeasure at these parties. you can take the numbers of this and frankly, you can convert them into whichever argument you wish to support. for example, you can take all the votes were cast for parties supposedly in favour of

brexit which these days includes the labour party and you can conclude that people voted in favour of brexiter you can say the labour party is roughly speaking still not opposed to a referendum so take all the parties that might contemplate a referendum and you say a majority of people voted for a referendum but my own view is probably the safest statement to make is that the public are very common statement to make is that the public are very common in statement to make is that the public are very common in the way in which they voted, the public finds itself extremely evenly divided between these options. 35% voting for parties that both are in favour of no deal and were virtually all of that vote comes from those who voted leave, and on the other side of the fence, 35% of people voted for parties that are clearly in favour ofa parties that are clearly in favour of a second referendum and those parties voters are known to consist almost entirely of remain voters. some people would want to add the nationalist parties to that total and they get it up to 40% but we know from pulling evidence discussed

—— scottish national party gets a third of its food from labour so dare i suggest the safest course of action and the one clear description is we are divided, we are evenly, more or less evenly divided but above all and what's more crucial, we are polarised, polarised between the two extreme option is of no deal and a second referendum. nigel farage, even though in a sense a winner on the night, the brexit party a winner on the night saying effectively this is a reflection of the referendum result, 52%, 48%. there are two ways of reading, no doubt the brexit party did well, came first, etc. but we should remember what the brexit party is doing is articulating and expressing albeit very effectively, the views ofa albeit very effectively, the views of a section of the electorate that represents less than half of the electorate. we know from pulling evidence that somewhere between one half and one third of leaf voters, a half and one third of leaf voters, a half and one third of leaf voters, a half and two thirds of leaf voters are in favour of or are willing to

accept a no deal and the 32% that ukip got is consistent with that evidence, take 64% of leaf voters and it goes down to 32% of the entire electorate. so we can't argue on the basis of this, some want to argue that this is a very clear expression that the public wish to leave without id, 35% is not a majority. and equally, whether you call it 35% or 40%, you cannot argue that a majority of the public expressed a clear view in favour of a second referendum and to that extent, at least, the honest truth is both sides have to make progress convince public opinion on a subject on which we are above all deeply divided. what are the implications for a possible general election?” think so far as what we might call a volu nta ry think so far as what we might call a voluntary election, what's the probability? the next conservative prime minister by the autumn will decide that actually, he or she is ina decide that actually, he or she is in a position to hold a general

election which might make the arithmetic of the house of commons easier to get brexit through. a party that's just got 9% of the vote, that slows the majority of its voters to another party, on the grounds that it has failed to deliver brexit, is unlikely to be in that position. a lot of people who voted for the brexit party will vote for the conservatives in a general election but a lot would not and i suspect that many of those would not come back unless and until brexit has been delivered. they went from ukip to the conservatives once because they thought theresa may could deliver, she hasn't and they are unlikely to go back again. that said, clearly also, and this, given that we are now having the prospect ofa that we are now having the prospect of a prime minister who might be more willing to contemplate more —— no deal than the current prime minister was, maybe they do try to get it through the house of commons but the trouble is, it looks as though if a prime minister were to try and do that the house of commons

ultimately reduce the nuclear weapon of bringing that government down three a vote of no confidence which would precipitate a general election so it all depends very much on how the new prime minister can play his or her hand. if they can deliver brexit then maybe they can have an election they can win but if they can't i suspect they will want to stay aloof away from the electorate as long as possible. what would you say about the phenomenon of the brexit party, it's only been around for a few weeks, it doesn't have a ma nifesto for a few weeks, it doesn't have a manifesto and here it is the winner. but it is led by a gentleman he was extremely well known to be associated with a eurosceptic view and ina associated with a eurosceptic view and in a sense, we saw this the moment nigel farage founded his party, virtually all ukip voters switched to the brexit party so we have to think of the brexit party of ukip reincarnate rather than a wholly new invention that's come from nowhere. and to be honest, if it were not the creation of nigel farage it would not be doing anything like as well as it did and

it's another testament to his unique ability to articulate the views of the central society in a very effective way of which has had a very dramatic impact on british politics. professorjohn curtice, thank you for being with us. we are going to hearfrom our correspondence in scotland and northern ireland are counting continues in a moment. at first, let's ta ke continues in a moment. at first, let's take a closer look at the results in wales. the brexit party winning the largest share of the vote, almost one third. let's look at the change in the share of the vote since the last election. you see it's a big loss for the party, losing 13 percentage points in wales and the conservatives down compared to last time, ukip performing badly, down 2496. -- time, ukip performing badly, down 24%. -- 24 time, ukip performing badly, down 24%. —— 24 points. when translated

into meps in wales, the brexit party have two. plaid cmryu and the labour party both have one. our wells correspondence is in cardiff. talk is through the results, the implications and the reaction. as you were saying, it's a reflection really of what's happened elsewhere in the uk, the brexit party gaining around one third of the vote but it's the competition, the battle between the labour party and plaid cmryu which is interesting. look at the context here, it's the almost vice —like grip that the labour party has had on politics in wales for the best part of the century, topping the polls in 38 of the last 39 elections held in wales and last night, in third place behind plaid cmryu, the first time the nationalist party has defeated labour in an election in its 90 year

history and the tectonic plates have shifted in welsh politics. we'll have to wait to see about that but there's another element, behind me in the assembly senate building, labour is the party of government, it has the first minister in wales who has stuck very closely to the message ofjeremy corbyn on brexit, not calling outright for another referendum and he has been criticised for that. some assembly members have been saying there now needs to be a rethink on the party because my position on brexit in wales, we need to have a the international minister said this morning there needs to be everything. the welsh labour first minister coming under increasing pressure today to change away from the uk labour message and having a distinctly welsh message to give to voters on brexit. thank you, sorry

about the quality of the line. let's go to scotland. lorna gordon is in glasgow. they are still counting the votes but lorna, give us the story of the night. the western isles still to declare, they don't count ona still to declare, they don't count on a sunday but the result is due in probably between 11am and 12 midday but i don't think it will really affect the overall result as it stands. the snp carried the vote here in scotland, it's a very different situation to say wells that we've just heard from. the snp fought its campaign on a very clear message that scotland is for europe and it really did seem to hit home. they are on track for their best ever european election result. increasing the number of snp mps are likely to increase from two up until three, from a total of six. nicola

sturgeon has called this an historic victory with scotland rejecting brexit once again. the liberal democrats also on course to win a seat although of course they take a different position on the other constitutional question here in scotla nd constitutional question here in scotland that of scottish independence. important though to note that the brexit party looks set to win one seat here in scotland. that perhaps reflecting the fact that around a million people voted for brexit in that european referendum three years ago. as for the conservatives they look on course to win a seat, not a great night for them but their vote held up night for them but their vote held up better that in the rest of the uk so they will take some comfort from that. as to the labour party, dismal night for them. five years ago they camea night for them. five years ago they came a close second in the european elections, this time their vote collapsed to less than 10% of the total. but a night, for the losers, labour are looser, for the winners,

the snp had a great night overall. interesting to see how that affects their momentum going forward in this argument over a second referendum on independence. the snp westminster leader ian blackford has suggested the result in this election has cemented its case for a second referendum on independence in the event of a new deal brexit. lorna, thank you. and we can go to our ireland correspondent chris paige who is at accountant magherafelt, it looks pretty busy, what's going on? —— who is at a count. looks pretty busy, what's going on? -- who is at a count. the results may be in for most of the rest of the uk but here in northern ireland the uk but here in northern ireland the counting is just beginning the process , the counting is just beginning the process, just under way for an hour. three seats in the european parliament are up for grabs here. one held by the democratic unionist party, strongly pro—brexit, one held by sinn fein who are anti—brexit, the third by the ulster unionist party who were for remaining in the

eu at the time of the 2016 referendum but since then they've said the result of the referendum should be honoured so the uk should leave. the dup and sinn fein more or less guaranteed to hold onto their seats but that third seat is a lot more unpredictable. the ulster unionist politicians who had held the party ‘s parliamentary european seat is retiring so they are running a new candidate this time round and the other party is in contention for that seat at the nationalist sdlp and the cross community alliance party, both strongly anti—brexit. the traditionalist —— the traditional unionist voice, passionate brexiteers, the green party, came to see how well they will do in the wake of their successful performance across the uk and the rest of the european union, not least in the irish republic. turnout is 45%, reflecting the fact that brexit one way or another will be set to effect northern ireland more than most places so counting just beginning, a form of

proportional representation, single tra nsfera ble vote proportional representation, single transferable vote which means it will be a pretty long process! chris, thank you, you are there for us chris, thank you, you are there for us throughout the day, thank you. tim moffat is at a boot sale in sutton coldfield finding out what the buyers and sellers there make of the buyers and sellers there make of the eu election results. tim. good morning to you from this bank holiday car—boot sale, amongst the bargain hunters and de—clutter is, many people with views on what happened in the european elections overnight, the west midlands constituency saw three brexit meps elected, one labourer, one green party, one conservative, but it's a brexit party performance which has caught attention. donna, what do you make of it. i didn't know anything about it until this morning, i don't think the european election has much relevance to me. are you pleased the brexit party has done well? yes, i think i would be, we voted on it and no one has given their opinion,

nothing has happened, it will be good to see if something changes. thank you. this area is interesting, in the 2016 election 59% of people voted to leave, sutton coldfield itself, about 52% but brian, what did you make of the results?” thought they were fairly predictable because the two parties that had a clear policy were nigel farage in the brexit party, the name speaks for itself and the liberal democrats who said no, we are firmly in favour of remaining, they they were the only people who came across with a clear message, the labour party, i have no idea what they stand for and the tory party demonstrated they don't sing from the same hymn sheet. thank you for your thoughts and good luck with your bargain hunting. let's have a quick chat to michael, what did you make of what happened, did you vote? for the first time in my life i didn't vote, the reason, i was an ordinary minor and as much as

iadmire nigel was an ordinary minor and as much as i admire nigel farage and his skills, i thought it might be hypocritical. in terms of the reaction overall, what would you say, is it what you expected? it's what we expected and i think it's time we had strong leadership, we need to move on and show the lack of leadership over the last few years hasjust proven leadership over the last few years has just proven not leadership over the last few years hasjust proven not to be positive. thanks ever so much. good luck with your sales today, hope they go well. plenty of people here, a popular event here, this bank holiday car—boot sale, a lot of browsing and perusing and digesting going on of the european election results that ta ke the european election results that take place. tim moffat, thank you. let's go back tojoanne at westminster for some more let's go back tojoanne at westminsterfor some more political reaction. thank you. the green party have made gains in the selection, they've seen their best performance since 1989 coming in ahead of the tory party. let's talk to jonathan partly —— jonathan bartley, the

green party co—leader. do you think people see this effectively is another referendum on brexit?” think it's bigger than that, clearly another element of being unequivocally remain understanding for the people ‘s vote but look at what's happening across europe, there is a green wave. similar pattern across europe, decline of the two big parties, people wanting more choice and people recognising the climate crisis is full square upon us. we have 11 years to turn this around, school strikes and extinction rebellion have brought this to the fore put the green party offering something which i think others remain parties happened, a lot of labour party voters coming to the green party. the green party offering a comprehensive package to people. we are obviously in a very unusual position in that these votes have come in, an election that wasn't supposed to happen, we were supposed to have left europe by now, who knows how long these british meps may set for if we do go out on

the 31st of october. so in terms of green impact in westminster nothing has changed for any of the parties here in westminster. so where do things go from here in this country? with regards to the green party specifically we are coming first in a number of councils around the country, brighton, bristol, norwich, we've seen the westminster pulling intention rocket up as well, much beyond our record 2015 election result. clearly overall dissent is a very strong message, remain, people spoke parties are pulling brexit and ukip clearly, that's going to make mines at westminster very concentrated and it still seems, you can change the conservative party leader and prime minister but that doesn't change the parliamentary arithmetic, a dilemma over not being able to deliver brexit. there is an even more compelling case to have that people spoke at we've been asking for. the fragmented vote for

remain has been ok for all the individual parties in these elections because its proportional representation so you've come out with seven meps, at westminster you have one mep, share of the vote doesn't translate in the same way. if we were to head into another general election and we may well do that sooner rather than later, it's not clear, how many candidates would you expect to be able to field? how much do you think you could punch, how high, we've heard from nigel farage this morning saying he would expect to field candidates in every constituency which is remarkable if that's managed by a brand—new party. ican that's managed by a brand—new party. i can say the numbers of the top of my head but we need to maximise the vote but the important thing to recognise is that people are more and more voting with their heart, sending a message in elections and you can see the long—term trend from the 1950s, people voting for the two big parties and it's gone down and down and down, we've seen them get

their lowest poacher ever in recent polling for a westminster election, indicating that people want change. the country is divided but everyone is united in believing the political system is broken and needs urgent reform and people are sending clear m essa g es by reform and people are sending clear messages by voting for parties like the green party at that reform is needed and overdue. we still would come back to the situation that has ever been thus in this country that in westminster system you wouldn't get a result like this because of the fact it's not proportional representation, its first past the post. let's watch and see what happens, i detect a really big change, people saying the system is broken, we have to change it and because we get those first places in council elections of the back of big council elections of the back of big council elections of the back of big council election results three or four weeks ago, it is the first past the post system but we doubled the number of councillors, people recognise if you vote green you get green and that makes a big difference. jonathan bartley, thank you. we are going to have much more

political reaction here at westminster throughout the rest of the morning but for now, it's back to the studio. joanna, thank you, let's ta ke to the studio. joanna, thank you, let's take a closer look at the results in london, the pro—remain parties pulling pretty well. let's guide you through them. the liberal democrats the main winners in london. beating the labour party into second place. the brexit party coming third. when that is translated into the number of meps in the region of the liberal democrats gained three, the brexit party of two candidates elected although you can see the labour party lost two meps. green party taking the remaining seat and it means the conservative party no longer has any meps in london losing the two seats it won in the 2014 european parliament elections. let's talk about the london results.

with me is ben habib, one of the two newly elected mep's for the brexit party in london. what is your reading of the results? nigel farage as saying in effect it's not really a surprise, it's a reflection of the referendum results in three years ago, the 52—48% split has been mirrored by these results but is that how you see it? yes, we've had three elections in the last three years, we had the referendum which leave one, we had the general election 2017 which effectively leave one because 80% of the constituency of parliament supported the reverent and we've had these euro elections and we've had three elections which evidence the nationpos might desire to leave, albeit on the sort of split you described. doesn't that show what a divided country we are over europe? is this actually a mandate do you think for a no deal brexit? we stood

for a no deal brexit in these elections. we have given the government has given the opportunity ofa government has given the opportunity of a deal a good overall, it came up with the withdrawal agreement which the eu declined to renegotiate and westminster rejected three times so i think it's safe to say that's a bad deal and given that's a bad deal we ought to be living without a deal. do you think if there were a general election, that this sort of result would in any way be mirrored, in other words the brexit party would be winning lots and lots of seats around the country?” would be winning lots and lots of seats around the country? i don't think this is a protest vote, i think this is a protest vote, i think people are absolutely fed up not just with the think people are absolutely fed up notjust with the government but with parliament itself. as we said, we are here to change politics for good and i think of a general election were to be held tomorrow the brexit party may well be forming a government. thank you very much for being with us. our correspondent hugh schofield is in paris.

yes and the big two have come out way ahead of the rest of the pack. that being the party of emmanuel macron and marine le pen national rally. in effect, the real battle was between them, the rest of them being left in the rear. and victory went to marine le pen and her national rally party, getting 23%, macron getting 22% and way down we have the greens on 13% and below them the centre right 8%, the ce ntre—left them the centre right 8%, the centre—left and 6%. when you talk about the two big parties in britain doing badly spare a thought for the old big two parties who have been wiped out four, 15% between them. it isa wiped out four, 15% between them. it is a victory for marine le pen and today she is injubilant moat is a victory for marine le pen and today she is in jubilant moat but it's not a wipe—out by any means for

emmanuel macron and he can draw a lot of solace from the result because it tends to confirm his view of european politics in french politics being between people like him and people like marine le pen. thank you. we can also go to germany. jenny hill is there. what is the story of the night would you say? there are two big stories, the big 0 parties, the conservatives and their partners the social democrats have made losses especially the social democrats who had a disastrous showing in the second big story is the surging popularity of the green party, they almost doubled their share of the vote in the last elections. really doing very well indeed. i think that reflects two trends we are seeing in germany, firstly, interest in climate change and environmental policy has really come to the fore, topping the list of voters come to the fore, topping the list of vote rs co nce rns come to the fore, topping the list of voters concerns in the run—up to this vote. secondly, it's all about

the youth vote, if you look at the breakdown of the figures you see a significant proportion of support for the greens came from younger voters and they are leaching away from the older more established parties. quick note about the far right afd, they didn't do as well as perhaps they had hoped, only making a small gain though interestingly, looking at the old eastern states in germany, they are still rather stronger. jenny, thank you, we will have a full roundup of the results of the top of the hour but let's go back to my colleaguejoanna in westminster with more reaction. thank you. i am joined by another guest. what's changed here? the political landscape has changed definitely because the liberal democrats as well as the brexit party have a sense of momentum and that matters in politics but curiously, look at the bigger picture, what's changed with brexit,

remarkably little, we are still in a divided country as last night showed clearly, we still have a parliament that cannot make up its mind so it still virtually impossible to see how we break this brexit logjam. general election? i would argue a general election was a way of doing this, forcing the parties to have a policy and forcing people to choose but one of the implications of last night, both the big parties for another encounter with the electorate almost more than they fear anything else. if no deal brexit candidate comes in as leader of the conservative party is that going to be a recipe for a general election because obviously, we know for the arithmetic in parliament is? it will be a recipe for instability because my sense then is if we get a prime minister who is determined to try and push us towards no deal a number of conservative mps seriously consider voting against their own government enabled of no confidence and that triggers this two week process , and that triggers this two week process, seeing if we could get another government to command the support of the house and if not, after 14 days we have a general

election. thank you. we will be here throughout the day with more analysis and reaction but for now, let's catch up with the weather, the sunshinejust emerging, let's catch up with the weather, the sunshine just emerging, let's see how it's looking with simon king. joanna thank you. some sunshine across southern and eastern parts, further north and west a bit more mixed, some showers in north—west england and wales in particular. quite a few showers across northern ireland and through the rest of today we continue with these, heavy perhaps even thundery and they will eventually track into eastern and southern parts during this afternoon. quite blustery conditions, a westerly wind for england and wales, further north is a northerly wind, feeling quite chilly compared to the last few days. temperatures 10—12d, we get around 19 degrees in the south—east of england. tonight though showers continue to move through, they could be heavy in places through the night. temperatures getting down to around 6—10d. into tuesday, showers

again but! around 6—10d. into tuesday, showers again but i think these will be mostly confined to its eastern scotland, down the eastern side of england, they could be heavy, maybe even thundery, further west you see something drier and sunnier compared to today but it's going to feel quite cool again for many of us. goodbye.

you're watching a bbc news eu elections special — with the brexit party a clear winner in the poll, the lib dems taking second place, and a very tough night for the conservatives and labour. the brexit party — formed just six weeks ago — are the big winners, gaining almost a third of the voteand 28 meps we have a mandate and want the government to include us in their negotiating team. we have got to get ready for leaving the european union in october the 315t. there is an awful lot we can do. the liberal democrats — who campaigned to stop brexit — come second with around 20% of the vote.

and the green party make significant gains — posting their best performance for thirty years. i'm joanna gosling at westminster — where the two main parties have suffered heavy losses. labour falls to third place overall with less than 15% of the vote — prompting pressure on jeremy corbyn's approach to brexit. we went into an election where the most important issue was what was our view on leaving the european union and we were not clear about it, we were not clear on the one single thing that people wanted to hear. the conservatives are pushed into 5th place — with an historic low of less than 10 percent of the vote. the home secretary says the results are ‘hugely disappointing' and another minister says it's time to rethink their strategy. it is a wake—up call to my colleagues in parliament we have to deliver on the instruction of the british people in 2016, with the brexit referendum.

in scotland, the snp have dominated the poll winning 38% of the vote. and in wales, labour are pushed into third place behind the brexit party and plaid cymru. we'll bring you all the results — and the picture across europe where turnout is up, and the traditional parties have lost out to smaller ones. good morning — and welcome to this bbc news eu elections special. in a major blow for the largest parties at westminster, the brexit party have emerged as the clear winner in the poll for a new european parliament.

formed just six weeks ago, nigel farage's party have won 28 seats so far and received almost a third of the share of the vote. both labour and the tories posted some of their worse results ever, while the liberal democrats and the greens — who both oppose brexit — have both increased their vote and seats. the home secretary savid javid said the results were ‘hugely disappointing‘ and a ‘verdict on brexit‘. with 10 out of 12 regions declared, let‘s take a look at the results in detail. and it‘s the brexit party that gained the largest share of the vote — almost a third — with 32%. the liberal democrats took second place with 20% — up 13 points compared to their result in the last eu elections of 2014. labour came 3rd with 14 per cent — down 11 points on last time. the greens increased their support —

gaining 12 per cent of the vote. the conservatives fell to a historic low — 5th place in the poll — and just 9 per cent of the vote. although we‘re waiting for final results in scotland the snp have polled strongly — while ukip‘s vote fell heavily to just 3%. the new change uk party also failed to make an impact. 73 seats in the european parliament were up for grabs — with the brexit party so far winning 28. the lib dems have won 15 — they gained just! in 2014. labour have 10 meps — losing eight. the greens have more than doubled their seats — with 7 meps, up 4. and the impact on the conservative party is clear when it comes to seats — they‘ve gotjust 3 meps — down 15. plaid cymru have won 1 seat after beating labour in wales. the final results in scotland will be declared later this morning. counting in northern

ireland starts today. ourfirst report comes from our political correspondent nick eardley — a warning his report contains some flash photography. a vote that wasn‘t supposed to take place to a parliament we‘re supposed to have left. a result that shows the country is still bitterly divided. the big winners — two parties with very different but very clear messages on brexit. brexit now! nigel farage‘s brexit party topped the poll, with almost a third of the vote. the reason, of course, is very obvious. we voted to leave in a referendum. we were supposed to do so on march 29th and we haven‘t. the liberal democrats, with their anti—brexit message, had a big night, too — coming second across the uk. every vote for the liberal democrats is a vote to stop brexit. for the two parties that

normally dominate british politics, it was a disaster. the conservatives were thumped — finishing fifth, with less than 10% of the vote. three years ago, the country voted to leave. it‘s three years on and we haven‘t left. and, inevitably, therefore, people were going to be drawn in a polarised way to the single—issue pro— or anti—brexit parties. labour, too, were punished, finishing third with less than 15%. that will spark a heated debate about whether it should now get fully behind another referendum. we‘re now going to find ourselves in a position where we will have a tory leadership who will insist on either a bad deal or no deal at all, and i fear it will be no deal and, in those circumstances, we must be equally clear, and it will be a disaster for our country to have no deal. there should be a referendum and we should campaign to remain. the green vote was up, too — they beat the conservatives into fourth place. ukip were wiped out. and change uk failed

to make their mark. in scotland, the snp were miles ahead, on almost 40%. the party will take three of the six seats there. in wales, the brexit party topped the poll. plaid cymru came second. labour, a party who have dominated welsh politics for a century, finished third. northern ireland counts today. it was a good night for parties who have taken a firm stand on brexit, but voters are still split between parties who back leaving the eu as soon as possible and those who want another referendum and, ultimately, to stay. if you were hoping this would end the brexit debate, you may well be disappointed. nick eardley, bbc news. well, let‘s head to westminster — where the two largest parties have had a very difficult night. joanna gosling is there for us now. a lot of different people interpreting the results in lots of different ways. as always after the

results we have been getting since the referendum. it is all you will hearagain and again, the referendum. it is all you will hear again and again, these results clearly indicate whatever that tingle a person you are speaking to is in favour. in terms of where the main parties go from here, they are going to have work out a strategy on what they are going to stand for in the future because these results seem to have underlined the tory and labour strategies of trying to keep their traditional party voters who are on different sides of the debate on side with talk of a compromise has failed and as we have heard, it is the parties who have given a clear indication of exactly where they stand on this, whether it is no deal or remain, they are the parties who have done very well. the tory leadership race is under way and last night is likely to have an impact on how theresa may‘s successor pictures there brexit solution. labour have lost ground

and there are questions for labour on its future policy and the indications are it may be coalescing behind pushing for a second referendum. interesting from jeremy corbyn overnight we did not hear him talking about honouring the result of the referendum, which has previously been the mantra from labour. we can bring in norman smith. everyone tries to extrapolate from result something that sounds good for them but it is as if we have been going round in circles the last three years and ended up where we we re last three years and ended up where we were at the time of the referendum with a divided country where there seems frankly even less appetite for compromise following the last three years of trying to get a deal and getting pretty much nowhere. obviously, nigel farage‘s brexit party have done well, getting almost one third of the vote from

standing start in six weeks, winning in every area of england, apart from london, and also winning in wales. hoovering up true blue tory seats and winning in theresa may‘s constituency and jeremy hunt‘s constituency and jeremy hunt‘s constituency and jeremy hunt‘s constituency and in borisjohnson‘s. and then also shaking jeremy corbyn‘s age by winning in labour leave seat such as bolsover, bassetlaw, traditional labour seats. on the other side, we have liberal democrats bouncing back after their bleak democrats bouncing back after their blea k yea rs democrats bouncing back after their bleak years to take second place, doing spectacularly well in london, overturning some of the key corbyn citadels such as winning in islington, haringey, camden. i suppose the question for the tory party is how they respond and for labour how do they respond. in terms

of the tories there will be pressure on leadership candidates to pivot towards no deal because nigel farage made it clear, if they do not, he is prepared to stand his brexit party ina prepared to stand his brexit party in a general election. this is what he said this morning. there is much more change needed in british politics. the two— party system is not fit for purpose. there are institutions like the house of lords that have become a parody of themselves. there is a lot of work to do to modernise and change the shape of british politics, but our primary goal is to get this country to be independent and self—governing. if that does not happen and we do not leave on the 315t of october, what you will see is the brexit party stunning everybody at the next general election. meanwhile, labour have to decide how they get back those labour voters who seem to desert them in droves for the liberal democrats, or the

green party. i think we are beginning to see movement, interesting this morning we heard from john mcdonnell, diane abbott, and we heard from emily thornberry before that, tom watson. all mooting the possibility the party had to back a public vote. john mcdonnell will say, i am talking about a general election and if we cannot get one yes i am talking about another referendum. the reality is to me that no tory leader would consider another general election because based on this they would be annihilated, which means the only public vote that would have much chance of liftoff is another referendum. albeit, at the moment, it seems the liberal democrats have positioned themselves as the referendum, remain party, which was the message from their president this morning. people had written us off and said we could not recover and i am so proud of our members, 100,000 members who have worked hard, built up, helped us with a strong message,

hundreds of thousands of people who joined our stop brexit campaign that resulted in millions of people voting for us as the strongest remain party we got our best ever european election results and it is encouraging for the future. one of the remain parties who did not enjoy that referendum bounce was change uk party which got half a million votes but no meps. their difficulties i suspect have been compounded, what looks like a row brewing between some of their mps over whether they should have made the case for tactical voting with the case for tactical voting with the liberal democrats before the election. their interim leader heidi allen in an interview on channel 4 news did seem to back the idea of tactical voting, working with the lib dems. that this morning drew this rebuke from another of their mps, anna soubry.

we are 11 members of parliament who came from two political parties and for this new party, a genuinely new political party with a new approach to doing politics and i am pleased 600,000 people were good enough to go out and give our support. if you look at it in terms of core vote and compare it to the conservatives, 9%, and the labour party at 11—12%, that is their core vote? i think there is much hope for our future and i'm looking forward to it. we did not hear anna soubry say what she said that she thought it bizarre the party‘s interim leader had mooted the idea of working with the lib dems but clearly some fundamental questions about how they go forward and how close they get to the liberal democrats. thank you, and we can get more reaction now. with me now is conservative mp paul scully. it could not have been much worse

for your party. it was a bad evening, no doubt. something we have to understand and make no bones about the fact where we are and we have already started to listen. you could see what happened in the lead up could see what happened in the lead up to polling day, and afterwards, watching the prime minister falling on her sword and we now have to choose a new leader, which will be the new prime minister and get brexit done. no-deal brexit? we have to do everything we can to get a deal. but that is what they have been trying to do. there were key areas of disagreement we can see if we can work on, the backstop in particular, and those areas where we need to redouble efforts and see if there is any grander flexibility. need to redouble efforts and see if there is any grander flexibilitym sounds like what has been gone over again and again. the voters said basically in these results, we are sick of that. they have gone for the party standing for leave, brexit, or

remain. we have a deadline of october the 31st which will be tough because the leadership election will go to the end ofjuly and then you have august and conference season. but we have to use time available to talk and listen and regain goodwill both within the different views in parliament, but also between the uk and brussels, to see if there is more flex. if people can pivot a little bit, we do not have that much more to move to get something across the line. there will be no room for that if boris johnson, the line. there will be no room for that if borisjohnson, dominic raab comes in as party leader who is saying we leave on the 31st of october with or without a deal. saying we leave on the 31st of october with or without a dealm terms of leadership, i am vice chairman of the party and i am remaining neutral because i am helping to organise it. but i have not made up my mind in the leadership. whatever position they take, if you have that deadline, it

should sharpen mines, hopefully. because nobody wants to... sharpen whose minds? everybody‘s. i voted to keep no deal on the table in parliament as did colleagues. what it does is enable us, you do not wa nt to it does is enable us, you do not want to —— the eu do not want to leave without a deal. i wonder why another deadline will sharpen mines when we went through the 29th of march. the focus of the people you mention, if we leave no deal on the table it has to be a serious consideration and alternative. if you are just saying it, consideration and alternative. if you arejust saying it, imagine someone buying a house and talking to the agent and saying i do not like the price and the spouse is behind you holding up colour swatches against the wall, it undermines your negotiating position. if you are prepared to work through no deal and tackle the turbulence that will follow, which is why it is not my default position, that is something i hope brussels would engage with. position, that is something i hope

brussels would engage withm position, that is something i hope brussels would engage with. if the party gets a leader like boris johnson, will it be a recipe for a general election, because it is a party that is going to be saying as you say should be the case, we should take a no—deal brexit. that will not happen in parliament. what we have, before we even get to those considerations, we have six weeks, two or three weeks for the members of parliament and a few weeks for members to consider and over that period we will have a lot of debate which i hope will be reinvigorating. it will be issues led. of course dominated by brexit, but there is so much more to talk about in terms of the domestic issues, to help crystallise some differences and where we have, importantly, areas we agree on in brexit. what do you think about having a general election? i do not think it is something we need and... with the

conservatives, will they or labour what one now? i do not think the labour party would want one which is another reason i come back to the fa ct another reason i come back to the fact this is why we need to work together for the sake of the country, rather than keep boring people to the ground to vote. i hope... what i took out on thursday was that people want to get on with thejob. it is was that people want to get on with the job. it is slightly sad a lot of people today, commentators and especially some politicians, still rehearsing the arguments of three yea rs rehearsing the arguments of three years ago about whether we should leave. we should be talking about how we leave a respect the first referendum and find a common ground that we can get around to make sure we leave in orderly way. thank you very much. we will have more reaction. back to ben. the picture in the rest

of europe now — pro european parties have retained a firm grip on the eu parliament — but eurosceptic parties have seen strong gains — espectially in italy, france, poland as well as here in the uk of couuse. our europe correspondent gavin lee is in brussels. what is your reading of these results across europe? give us a general picture and also the reaction in brussels. we have now a far more diverse, pluralistic, fragmented european parliament than there has been ever. since it was created in the 50s. what we are looking at, when you look at parties in each of the 28 countries, to get anything through, the meps, 751. they have to work as big groupings traditionally and traditionally labour go with the socialists, the conservatives previously with the centre—right. they have reformed their own group centre—right. they have reformed theirown group in centre—right. they have reformed their own group in the last years but there have been centre—right and ce ntre—left but there have been centre—right and centre—left groupings but they have ebbed away, the traditional groups that collectively with the help of liberals got things through such as the scrapping of mobile charges last

year. now we are looking at the ebbing away of those parties and there has been a flowering of green parties and more votes to liberals and far right parties with matteo salvini leading the charge in italy who tweeted saying we are the number one party. but remember, there are differences. none of those far right, anti—migrant parties are calling for eu exits like the brexit parties, they want change in the eu and more power to national governments, the opposite from the other notable story of france, with president macron wanting change but leading the pro—european charge and he was defeated by marine le pen and the national rally party. interesting domestic spin outs including an greece where there has been a snap election called by alexis to press. and also the chancellor elsewhere coming come first, the people‘s party, kicking out members of the far right party.

caught ina out members of the far right party. caught in a scandal where the vice chancellor seem to be given contracts in exchange for support. the freedom party got a kicking but a vote of confidence for the chancellor today and he may lose his position so a lot of domestic ripples across europe as a result of last night. what will be the reaction in brussels to the performance of the brexit party in the uk and the fact they will have a large number of meps? brexit party it looks like it will be the biggest party of any national government‘s party of any national government‘s party within the european parliament. bigger than angela merkel‘s, and the cdu party in germany. i spoke to a senior eu official last night in the european council who said for us, it will be a minor bad smell. we will have to deal with it, there will bejeering, and they will be a power —— there will be a powerful force

with marine le pen and matteo salvini. but they have gone through difficulties, with the greek financial crisis. now they are looking at brexit and they have become used to brexit and i think they will look to that and try to work out what change they want within themselves but probably wait for anything significant until the end of year one is that if it happens the uk leaves the eu. we can focus more on the results in the uk and in particular a close focus on the west midlands. in the west midlands — the brexit party took more than a third of the votes. if we take a look at the numbers — you can see that the brexit party gained 38% of the vote. labour came in second with 17% — that‘s down 10 points on the 2014 election results. in a close third came the liberal democrats — up on last time by 11 points.

then the greens, the conservatives in fifth, and ukip on five percent of the vote, down 27 points. let‘s discuss the situation in the west midlands with our correspondent navtej johal is in wednesbury near walsall. across the west midlands, paint a picture of what these election results mean and what they show us. you might recall in 2016, in the eu referendum election, there were, the west midlands was the region with the largest proportion of leave voters with 59.3% of the vote going to leave, more so than any other region in the country. last night‘s results seem to reflect again that brexit remains very much the big story here, although for the time being in this cafe in the black

country, breakfast is more of interest in brexit. last night we learned the brexit party and three meps, and labour lost one of theirs. the conservatives had a terrible night, losing one of theirs and the lib dems and greens gained a seat each. these make up the seven meps across the west midlands... in terms of the east midlands, you might remember that was the second largest vote for leave, with 58% in 2016. last night, again, the brexit party coming out on top, mirroring the national result. and a surname that might be familiarto national result. and a surname that might be familiar to most voters. and viewers across the country. rees—mogg becoming an mp, notjacob rees—mogg, but his sister, who said last night this result will be

devastating to her brotherjacob. the conservatives had a terrible night across the country and again a bad night in the west midlands and east midlands, losing both meps and the east midlands. the lib dems gaining one and labour retaining their one. across the board, the west midlands and east midlands, mirroring the national picture, seeing the brexit party with three meps each. in terms of a future referendum or general election, it is difficult to say what it means, with lib dems gaining a seat each in the west and east midlands but what is clear is divisions remain the case in the west midlands and east midlands and something which a cup of tea and a fry up willjust not be able to solve. i think you need to get breakfast! making me feel hungry watching those chaps sitting there. let‘s see if joanna watching those chaps sitting there. let‘s see ifjoanna has had her

brea kfast. let‘s see ifjoanna has had her breakfast. she is in westminster. i am joined by alistair campbell. and... with me now is nikki da costa — for rmer director of legislative affairs at number ten — and senior counsel at cicero group. also, tony blair‘s former director of communications — alastair campbell. we have this dramatic election with a two main parties here knocked off the top spots easily. what has changed at westminster? the politics has changed because you have seen the main parties rejected comprehensively with the conservatives largely because they have not done the one think they said was a priority which was to deliver brexit, and the labour party because of the confusion about what they believe and stand for. i think that changes things. obviously what happens now in terms of the tory

party leadership will be important, but i do not think anybody can pretend there is now a mandate for no deal. i know nigel farage is grabbing the headlines today but i think deep in his heart he will not think deep in his heart he will not think it is that great. he got a third of a third, just over one in ten people in this country voted for his party when he said it was all about democracy. the real change for me is the fact the lib dems and greens and snp in scotland and plaid cymru in wales, parties who are pro—remain and anti—brexit have done well. you want there to be a second referendum. the labour leadership have not gone for that. jeremy corbett overnight seemed to indicate potentially changing position. has not reiterate what has previously been the mantra which is, we will honour the result of the referendum. do you see the labour party shifting? the labour party membership shifted a long time ago.

most of the parliamentary labour party shifted a long time ago. most of the shadow cabinet now appear to have shifted. overnight, john mcdonnell, tom watson, emily thornberry basically all saying can we now please smell the coffee and wa ke we now please smell the coffee and wake up. you havejeremy corbyn, len mccluskey, andrew murray, a coterie around jeremy corbyn who, if they are not careful, i believe will drive the labour party to oblivion. i lent my vote to the liberal democrats for the first time in my life and i know a lot of people who did the same weather to the lib dems, greens, snp in scotland, whatever it might be, and they have to be won back in the strategy for the labour party seems to be you‘re either in or out, get out. it is not clever, not sensible politics. i think labour have to get off the fence and stop riding two horses at once. we know if you try to put one leg on one horse and one on the other what happens. and to come out for a position and fight for it.

there is a tory leadership contest under way. the push now is many in the party is saying is what this indicates is we need a new leader to ta ke indicates is we need a new leader to take on nigel farage and it needs to be somebody like boris.” take on nigel farage and it needs to be somebody like boris. i am not sure about that. i think the conclusion is... and everybody will interpret the results in different ways with lots of different mass saying if you shuffle labour over here you have a clear remain vote. it is simpler for the conservative party in the interpretation about where they can get votes from and where they can get votes from and where they can get votes from and where they know they cannot take votes. unlikely they could take it from change uk and lib dems. i think what it means for any new prime minister is they have to make a decision. they will not be any way forward that will not have risks where they can say to mp5, you are not going to risk a general election and maybe your colleagues voting no confidence, but i will set out the best strategy to get us through and

in my view we have been for the last few years trying to do the fudge. that has not worked. any prime ministerial candidate who says it will be something, but i won't count it as no deal —— might countenance no deal, essentially it is the same strategy as before and that is not working. we ultimately going to get a general election? you get a candidate that says no deal, we‘ve been around and around this. if a new prime minister puts forward a vote and says we go for a general election, you need a two thirds majority and it's difficult to win but the other circumstance is if there are mps especially on the conservative side that are so opposed to the position a new prime minister takes that they are willing to go down the government to trigger the 14 days to hand over power to jeremy corbyn or say we are going to try and do another leadership change over or bullied this new prime minister into a different position, those

circumstances i think it's uncontrollable, bear in mind you add up uncontrollable, bear in mind you add up the numbers for all the parties, all of the labour votes, labour in order to form a majority need eight conservatives at a minimum, half of the independents, all of the liberal democrats, all of plaid cymru, jeremy corbyn is not clear what the result of that would be so prepared for a general election is always wise to have in mind. we may well get free. with a general election be a disaster for labour and the tories? both the tories are pretty scared of a general election at the moment and i think it underlines the fa ct moment and i think it underlines the fact this issue per se brexit, itself, i don‘t think it‘s going to get resolved by a general election and i‘ve believed for some time it has to go back to a referendum and in this democracy point, i think it‘s extraordinary we will talk for the next few weeks about electing a new prime minister is going to be elected by just over

new prime minister is going to be elected byjust over 100,000 mainly very elderly people, most of whom probably voted for nigel farage and they are going to decide the next prime minister and that somehow it‘s democratic? they are putting this whole sorry mess back to the people is not. our politics is gone if i may say so, a bit crazy, that‘s seen as democratic and a peoples vote is not. if jeremy corbyn doesn't start to do what you want him to do which is to say a second referendum, will you stay in the party? well, i don't quite know what the position is because i didn‘t campaign against the labour party. but you voted lib dems. i voted for one of the programming parties and i did that frankly because i want the labour party to see sense and i would like to stay in the labour party, whether that will happen or not i don‘t know but i think if the labour party goes between now and through the tory leadership election and through the next phase and up to the next general election with this facing both ways policy and trying to pretend they are leave and remain

then i think that‘s unsupportable andi then i think that‘s unsupportable and i tell you, people should check out a couple of things. john howard, an mep who just got re—elected, i think it was last on the list, he sent an extraordinary e—mail last night to his supporters apologising for the national party campaign and what he called the sabotage of people like him trying to campaign ona people like him trying to campaign on a sensible policy and there is another labour figure i‘d on a sensible policy and there is another labourfigure i‘d like to mention, a council leader in barking and dagenham which voted 2— want to leave and he has turned that around by campaigning relentlessly and aggressively against brexit and labour last night hammered the brexit party in barking and dagenham. has politics ever been more polarised in this country and the way things are breaking down in terms of strong labour supporters, strong tory supporters not even voting for their parties in what has happened. getting towards my late 305 are not sure i canjudge whether

politic5 305 are not sure i canjudge whether politics has been more polarised, it'5 politics has been more polarised, it's certainly some of the most difficult times in parliament but what i'd say, it may be helpful for the two main parties to take a more definitive position because for example, if the labour party back remainl example, if the labour party back remain i think for those mp5 in labour and leave the seats are confronted with upper 5een labour and leave the seats are confronted with upper seen in terms of the brexit party, they may feel freer to vote in a particular way, that may counterbalance what apple i5 that may counterbalance what apple is on the altar remain 5ide that may counterbalance what apple is on the altar remain side but we will see it may facilitate a solution. we will end up with parties contained in their camps but free for all fun comes to voting? possibly. let‘s see what happens. thank you both. i will hand you back to the studio. you‘re watching a bbc news eu elections special. in a major blow for the largest parties at westminster, the brexit party have emerged

as the clear winner in the poll for a new european parliament. with 10 out of 12 regions declared let‘s take a look at the current share of the vote for the parties. and it‘s the brexit party that gained the largest share of the vote — almost a third — with 32%. the liberal democrats took second place with 20% — up 13 points compared to their result in the last eu elections of 2014. labour came third with 14 per cent — down 11 points on last time. the greens increased their support — gaining 12 per cent of the vote. the conservatives fell to a historic low — 5th place in the poll — and just 9% of the vote. the new change uk party also failed to make an impact — with just 3% of the vote. reeta chakra barti takes a closer look european election results

this has been an election of stark contrasts with the brexit party putting in a very strong performance but the liberal democrats and the green party also doing very well and disaster relief for the labour party and the conservatives. let‘s look at some of the detail. castle point in the east of england. this was one of the east of england. this was one of the brexit party ‘s most impressive results. taking 59% of the share of the vote. leaving all the other party way behind. they will be extremely pleased. in windsor and maidenhead, this is the constituency of theresa may, the brexit party taking the lion‘s share of the vote. and in saint helens. the brexit party came out on top. this is a labour party stronghold, they were way ahead of the labour party. that‘s all very representative of how strongly the brexit party has

performed. the liberal democrats will also be very pleased with their performance. they took on conservative areas like elmbridge in the south—east. 39% of the share of the south—east. 39% of the share of the vote. this has been a solidly conservative area for the last three european elections. let‘s just look at the change in the share of the vote. the conservative voter plummeting by 31%. that liberal democrat performance was reproduced in islington, jeremy corbyn ‘s constituency. the liberal democrats topping the poll in london. for the labour party that sort of very difficult result was reproduced in scotland, the snp really took all of the local authority areas, almost. in glasgow, at the expense of the labour party.

labour having a difficult time in wales. the brexit party coming out on top. and for the green party, a very good election, coming top in three local authority areas. including bristol as you can see. i think one of the most stark facts of this election is a performance of the conservative party who got 9% of the conservative party who got 9% of the vote, coming fifth in the league table and the most startling fact is in all the local authorities throughout the country, the conservative party failing to come top of the pole in any single council area. more reaction coming in from the labour party. the shadow brexit secretary circular starmer has just been tweeting. there it is.

there we are. the continuing debate about the policy of the labour party on another referendum. i think we‘ve got a bit more of that tweet from keir starmer. actually. just saying jeremy corbyn, the labour leader, indicating there will be more talks in the coming days about what exactly these european parliament election results mean. let‘s take a look at the european parliament results. this shows not individual parties but parties with common ground. normally the centre—left grouping has an overall majority but not this time. anti eu parties, the liberals

and the greens have gained ground so that negotiations and horsetrading lie ahead for control of the agenda the turnout was a surprise — figures have risen to 51 percent — up from 42.6 percent in 2014. turnout since 1994 our correspondentjames reynolds is in milan. james, talk us through the story of the night there. the far right populist party was the big winner, getting around 33—34% of the vote, led by the interior minister matteo savini who is an ally of nigel farage and marine le pen, he is the dominant politician in italy, he is from milan, this is his heartland. he is attempting to break away from

italy, then he changed policy, decided he would like to rule the rest of italy. and he campaigned in this election against brussels, against islam, against migration and against islam, against migration and a lot of voters particularly here in the north of italy liked what they heard. he will be strengthened in italy but that‘s not the same thing as saying he will now go to brussels and change of the institutions there because he‘s got to find populist partners. a few days ago in the campaign he had about 11 parties here together, populist parties from across europe, far right parties that he hoped he could cobble together to influence life in brussels but it may be that they struggled to find common ground in economic policy and policy towards russia, he tweeted a picture of himself last night celebrating the election with a picture of vladimir putin behind him, polish populist do not like russia at all so i think there will be problems for him when he tries to take the power that he has won in a selection from italy, his heartland, towards brussels.

james, thank you. james reynolds with the latest on the italian results from milan. let‘s go back to joanne at westminster. let‘s speak now to sebastian payne — whitehall correspondent at the financial times — and pippa crerar, political editor of the daily mirror. thank you both forjoining us, the questions today what does this mean for the two big main parties, the labour party seem to be slightly shifting, we‘ve heard keir starmer saying referendum, jeremy corbyn seems to have been echoing that, let‘s start with the labour party, pepper, what do you think will happen? what is clear from the elections is that any party which had anything less than an absolutely clear position has suffered and the labour party of course for a long time has been pursuing its position of constructive ambiguity in order to unite these two wings, the majority of the mps and members who are remain backing and then lots of

labour voters in the north and outside london, the midlands and so on, who actually act brexit so it‘s been trying to straddle dispense and keep this very fragile coalition together stop last night showed that this is a big fault line in the labour party and its really reaching the point is we go towards october, when the next brexit deadline is, that‘s going to be preceded by the party conference and members will have a say on party policy, it‘s reaching the point where it feels like a labour party will have to move one way or the other and she mentioned keir starmer this morning, emily thornbury last night, both senior cabinet shadow ministers, suggesting the party should unambiguously come out and support the second referendum and put the final say back to the people, interestinglyjohn mcdonnell who final say back to the people, interestingly john mcdonnell who is a very powerfulfigure in interestingly john mcdonnell who is a very powerful figure in the labour party leadership has also hinted at should be the way forward. he recognises the party position for a general election first is increasingly unlikely. so they

should move on to the final stage of the policy which is to back a second referendum. sebastian, do you think we are heading to a situation when we are heading to a situation when we have a party of remain and a party of no deal brexit here in westminster because if the labour party say they will support a referendum to suppress them into a position where they would have to campaignfor remain? position where they would have to campaign for remain?” position where they would have to campaign for remain? i think it's very much the case and a5 pippa 5aid, very much the case and a5 pippa said, we would want a shiny labour partyjobs said, we would want a shiny labour party jobs first brexit said, we would want a shiny labour partyjobs first brexit as opposed to any vote tory brexit were clearly the way labour party voters are going, the way senior shadow cabinet ministers change their minds makes that unsustainable. on the conservative side it's clear even though we have the brexit party who have come first and done very well the conservatives are going to have to become the real brexit party because they remain supporting conservative voters all seem to have gone to the liberal democrats and its care of the conservatives don't deliver brexit, deal or no deal by the end of october, they are going

to be wiped out. we should all rememberthe to be wiped out. we should all remember the selections are not a general election, they are not an opinion poll, they are always a protest vote, that's how european elections have been seen and lots of vote rs have elections have been seen and lots of voters have used it to say i am fed up voters have used it to say i am fed up with brexit, others are saying i am fed up not having brexit, i want to get on with it and all it suggests is if we spill into a general election this year which i feel is overwhelmingly more likely than not those parties will have to rapidly clarify their position so for the labour party that means they will have to become the position of remain and it is for the tories, they are going to have to become the party are brexit and that could mean ano party are brexit and that could mean a no deal brexit if that deal with the eu is dead as it seems to be. do you think a general election is inevitable? i think we've learnt you shouldn‘t be foolish to make certain political predictions but i definitely think we are now at a point we are more likely than not. as sebastian says, whoever the next prime minister is, the tory prime

minister is going to have to try and keep the brexit went within the party ha p py keep the brexit went within the party happy if they are to unite the party happy if they are to unite the party and that means sounding as though they are prepared to keep a no deal on the table, people like dominic rab and borisjohnson going back to the eu to try and renegotiate, they claimed they want to keep no deal on the table but when that happens you get closer to it, you realise the ramifications and the economic cost of that but if it became government policy that was what they would go for, then not only the labour party and all the other parties in the house of commons but also probably, you know, a fairly large handful of conservative mps would not support that in the commons. what it comes down to is if there was a no—confidence vote in the government would they be prepared to vote against their own party in order to bring down the government and stop a no deal brexit? people like philip hammond suggested he might be, others say that‘s just threats but it‘s something the next conservative leader needs to take into account stop are they going to have the

numbers to take britain out of the eu without a deal? currently there is not a majority for that in parliament. when will things shake down, sebastian, when do you think will get clarity from the labour party, when will we get clarity on whether the tory party is going to find it irresistible that the party at large in the country, there is a desire for boris johnson at large in the country, there is a desire for borisjohnson but what he is pushing for isn‘t necessarily chiming with what the mps want? the labour party i think the hard deadline as a conference in september which is very clear, if brexit hasn't been resolved by then or the leadership hasn't changed its position and they will be mandated by the pro—remain membership to back a second referendum and i think jeremy corbyn is obviously very aware of that and they've been trying to sit on the sense for a long time, speaking to their remain vote rs long time, speaking to their remain voters in cities and the leave vote rs voters in cities and the leave voters in cities and the leave voters in provincial parts of the country. and the fence has been

taken country. and the fence has been ta ken away by country. and the fence has been taken away by these elections and thatis taken away by these elections and that is the hard line for them to come to a position. for the conservatives, it's all going to be worked out over the next two months with this leadership contest and i think there is a danger that it becomes a eurosceptic arms race as one senior mp said to me, with each mp and candidate trying to out brexit the other and saying increasingly more no deal things, aggressive things, but borisjohnson as you said, we always talk about him is the kind of front runner here but he has set the tone of this race by these comments, we will leave deal or no deal on the 315t of october and as you said earlier, pepper, there is a question of whether that is paris saying we will leave without a deal or whether it's boris continuing theresa may because my position of trying to get a deal through while keeping no deal on the table because keeping his party together in the parliamentary arithmetic on no deal is very difficult. thank you both. then, back to you. john, thanks. see you later. we‘re going to hearfrom our

correspondents in scotland and northern ireland where counting continues in a moment. but first let‘s have a closer look at the results in wales. the brexit party won the largest share of the vote — with almost a third — 32%. plaid cymru gained second place — with 20% of the vote. labour came in third — with 15%. the liberal democrats closely behind with 14%. the conservatives in fifth place, followed by the greens. when we look at the change in the share of the vote since the last election in 2014 — you can see is the big gains for the brexit party in comparison with the losses for labour — which lost 13 percentage points in wales. the conservatives were also down compared to last time. ukip also performed badly — down 24 points. so when translated into meps in wales — the brexit party have two. plaid cymru and labour both have one. and you can see there that the conservatives and ukip each lost an mep.

our wales correspondent arywn jones is in cardiff. as we were showing a miserable night for the labour party in wales. yes, no hiding from that and when you look at the context, it‘s how dominant the labour party has been in wales for the past century or so, you consider in 38 of the last 39 wales wide elections it‘s always been the labour party topping the polls. in third place, a very disappointing evening for them and that‘s why ply camry are talking up this significance of the results are much saying the tectonic plates in welsh politics have shifted. —— plaid cymru. into my career time there will be elections to the welsh assembly behind me. we‘ll voters, having dabbled with plight camry in this election decide to back them in that election or will they return to labour. i guess that will depend in

pa rt labour. i guess that will depend in part over labour ‘s strategy on brexit. —— plaid cymru. labour is a party of government here, there is a labour party first minister in the senate behind me which has stayed close to jeremy corbyn senate behind me which has stayed close tojeremy corbyn ‘s view on how brexit should be, handled by the party today a lot of pressure on him to distance himself from jeremy corbyn ‘s position. there is a brexit minister here in wales, jeremy myles, who says the position needs to be re—thought. the labour party may try to distance itself from its uk counterpart. thank you. our scotland correspondent lorna gordon is in glasgow. the snp on track for their best ever european election results. we expect the western isles result in the next half hour or so, the scotland wide results in about midday but that‘s a unlikely to change the results as they currently stand. the best ever result from the snp, the clear message scotland for europe seems to

have hit home, they looked set to increase the number of meps up to three, they had a resounding success in some areas like dundee, they were more than £30 ahead of the clearest rival. -- more than £30 ahead of the clearest rival. —— 30 points ahead. a big chunk of people who chose to leave the european union, the brexit party seems to have swept up that vote, they look on track to have one mep, they look on track to have one mep, the conservatives a pretty bad night for them, they have one mep and they will take some consolation from the fa ct will take some consolation from the fact their share of the vote is bigger than elsewhere in the uk. the bigger than elsewhere in the uk. the big losers are the labour party, dismal night for them in scotland, they finished fifth, losing both of their seats, the labour party the loser, the snp the resounding winner. lorna, thank you. our ireland correspondent emma vardy is at a count in magherafelt.

accounting started at 8am this morning, sunday observance as a day of rest, meant there was no counting of rest, meant there was no counting of votes yesterday. don‘t forget of course northern ireland uses a slightly different voting system to the rest of the uk, the single tra nsfera ble vote system, the rest of the uk, the single transferable vote system, voters will rank candidates in order of preference, that also means counting ta kes a preference, that also means counting takes a little longer here but the big story of course is for the last 40 yea rs, big story of course is for the last 40 years, the last eight european elections in northern ireland, european elections have always delivered unionist candidates and one candidate here so perhaps rather dull affairs, you might say for the last 40 years but this year, everything is pretty different, brexit has thrown all of that up in the air, we expect when unions one nationalist but the battle for the third seat is where it‘s going to get really interesting. emma, thank you. our reality check correspondent chris morris is here.

chris here to tell us what the brexit party actually stands for. we know they want to leave the european union, no manifesto, very little detail on the website about what their policy would be, this is what nigel farage has been talking about during the campaign, a clean break brexit but it‘s interesting he doesn‘t tend to use the term no deal brexit, maybe he thinks it sounds more scary but his party says it‘s misleading but no doubt what clean break brexit would mean, the laws which have governed our relationship with europe, whether on trade or security for more than 40 years would disappear overnight. so, for some clean break, for others pretty sudden rupture. another thing that this clean break with mean is something that nigel farage has said a lot, the divorce bill that the government has agreed with the eu, to pay 39 billion over a number of yea rs, to pay 39 billion over a number of years, he says that money would not be paid. it‘s a nice sort of popular

election slogan but of course, not giving that money would hardly improve relations with the european union after brexit when you need to start talking to them but the main thing is the brexit party says we should leave the eu on world trade organisation terms. just tell us more about what that means because all of this will come into closer focus with the demise of theresa may, people are saying that the possibilities of a no deal brexit are actually on the rise. yes. this is, get used to this phrase because you will hear it a lot in the conservative leadership campaign as well. wt oh terms, what does it mean, nota well. wt oh terms, what does it mean, not a lot to be honest. world trade organisation rules or the baseline of international trade, the basic building blocks, if you like and countries tend to put other things on top of them and they have free trade agreements and so forth. now, the brexit party says, don‘t worry, we can use something called article 24 to ensure we can still have trade with the eu, without

ta riffs have trade with the eu, without tariffs or taxes when goods across borders. the trouble with article 24 is that you can only use it if both sides agree and if you are leaving with no deal, well there isn‘t a deal there, there is no agreement to implement article 24 with. and look at the priorities of the eu, if there was no deal and then they say well we need to talk to you after brexit about something, nigel farage and many conservative say we want to talk about a free trade deal, the eu has made very clear these would be its initial priorities, they look familiar, don‘t they, the divorce bill, the irish border and citizens rights, precisely the issues that are at the heart of the withdrawal agreement that theresa may has negotiated and which has been rejected three times in the house of commons. these issues are not going to go away and while the brexit party has done well, if you like, with its simple slogans, promoting simple solutions, what we have found about brexit in the last couple of yea rs, about brexit in the last couple of years, the problems it creates are

very complex. chris, for the moment, thank you. chris morris from the reality check team. let‘s look at the latest weather. simon king has that. thank you. quite a few showers this morning across northern ireland and north—west england and wales. those showers becoming a bit more widespread as we go through the afternoon, some of them could be heavy perhaps thundery as they push their way into the midlands, through southern areas of england. more persistent rain in north—eastern england, south—east scotland, sunny spells towards the north of that but this northerly wind across the north will feel quite chilly through this afternoon, temperatures reaching 9-13d. in afternoon, temperatures reaching 9—13d. in the south, with this westerly wind, temperatures between 17-19d. westerly wind, temperatures between 17—19d. through tonight we continue with quite a few showers across the uk. as we go into tuesday morning, temperatures reaching 6—10d, throughout tomorrow, showers again, mainly across eastern parts of

scotland, eastern england throughout the afternoon. further west, scotland, eastern england throughout the afternoon. furtherwest, dry scotland, eastern england throughout the afternoon. further west, dry and sunny weather compared to today, going to feel quite cool again for many of us. goodbye.

you‘re watching a bbc news eu elections special, with the brexit party a clear winner in the poll, the lib dems taking second place, and a very tough night for the conservatives and labour. the brexit party, formed just six weeks ago, are the big winners, gaining almost a third of the vote and 28 meps. we have a mandate and want the government to include us in their negotiating team. we have got to get ready for leaving the european union in october 31st. there is an awful lot we can do. the liberal democrats, who campaigned to stop brexit, come second with around 20% of the vote.

and the green party make significant gains, posting their best performance for 30 years. i‘m joanna gosling at westminster, where the two main parties have suffered heavy losses. labour falls to third place overall with less than 15% of the vote, prompting pressure on jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit. we went into an election where the most important issue was what was our view on leaving the european union and we were not clear about it, we were not clear on the one single thing that people wanted to hear. the conservatives are pushed into fifth place with an historic low of less than 10% of the vote. the home secretary says the results are "hugely disappointing" and another minister says it‘s time to rethink their strategy. it is a wake—up call to my colleagues in parliament, we have to deliver on the instruction of the british people in 2016, with the brexit referendum.

in scotland, the snp have dominated the poll winning 38% of the vote. we‘re expecting the final declaration shortly. and in wales, labour are pushed into third place behind the brexit party and plaid cymru. we‘ll bring you all the results and the picture across europe where turnout is up, and the traditional parties have lost out to smaller ones. good morning and welcome to this bbc news eu elections special. in a major blow for the largest parties at westminster,

the brexit party have emerged as the clear winner in the poll for a new european parliament. formed little more than six weeks ago, nigel farage‘s party have won 28 seats so far and received almost a third of the share of the vote. both labour and the tories posted some of their worse results ever, while the liberal democrats and the greens, who both oppose brexit, have both increased their vote and seats. the home secretary savid javid said the results were "hugely disappointing" and a "verdict on brexit". with ten out of 12 regions declared, let‘s take a look at the results in detail. and it‘s the brexit party that gained the largest share of the vote — almost a third — with 32%. the liberal democrats took second place with 20% — up 13 points compared to their result in the last eu elections in 2014. labour came third with 14% —

down 11 points on last time. the greens increased their support — gaining 12%. the conservatives fell to a historic low — with just 9% of the vote ,putting them in fifth place. although we‘re waiting for final results in scotland, the snp have polled strongly — while the uk independence party‘s vote fell heavily to just 3%. the new change uk party also failed to make an impact with only 3% share. 73 seats in the european parliament were up for grabs — with the brexit party so far winning 28. the lib dems have won 15 — they gained just one in 2014. labour have ten meps — losing eight. the greens more than doubled their seats — with seven meps, up four. and the impact on the conservative party is clear — they‘ve gotjust three meps

— down 15. plaid cymru have won one seat after beating labour in wales. the final results in scotland will be declared later this morning. counting in northern ireland starts today. our first report comes from our political correspondent tom barton — a warning his report contains some flash photography. if one party was expected to capitalise on the stalemate in the brexit process, it was the brexit party. and they were the clear winners of the night. taking almost a third of the vote and 26 meps. the party‘s leader saying that this could be just the start. party‘s leader saying that this could bejust the start. our party‘s leader saying that this could be just the start. our primary goal is to get this country to be at independent and self—governing f that doesn‘t happen and if we don‘t

leave on 31st october, what you will see is the brexit party stunning everybody at the next general election. it wasn'tjust a good night for the brexit party. at the other end of the spectrum, those standing ona other end of the spectrum, those standing on a clear remain platform, including the liberal democrat and the greens, also made great leaps forward. it is the first time in a hundred years that we have beaten the conservative and the labour party in the same election and we are able to demonstrate that the conservative and labour party did badly, because they were split and couldn't articulate what they wanted on brexit. we have been clear we are the strongest remain party. the one thing that is clear is that voters don‘t like the tightrope walk compromises the two main parties have been offering. what does that mean for the future? both for labour and the conservatives, it means that

they‘re going to be under pressure to adopt simpler, clearer positions. for the tories, devastation at the polls is likely to see leadership candidates taking tougher positions. this is the worst result in our party's history in elections. and it isa wake party's history in elections. and it is a wake up call to my colleagues in parliament that we have to deliver on the instruction the people gave news 2016 in the brexit referendum. for the labour party leadership, the pressure is in the opposite direction. to back another referendum. we are now going to find ourselves in a position where we will have a tory leadership who will insist on a bad deal or no deal. i fear it will be no deal and we must be equally clear and it will be a disaster for our country to have no deal. there should be a referendum and we should campaign to remain. deal. there should be a referendum and we should campaign to remainm the votes have been counted, the

results far from clear cut. the country is still divided. any end to the brexit debate a long way off. well, let‘s head to westminster, where the two largest parties have had a very difficult night. joanna gosling is there for us now. we have not the leaders of tories or labour on camera. a statement from jeremy corbyn indicated a second referendum might be the way ahead. he has been speaking on camera. tom watson said you need to rethink your brexit policy and back a sec

referendum. we are consulting our members and listening to the views of mps and the shadow cabinet after last night‘s result. the country is very divided and the country has to come together. nigel farage and the brexit party are only offering a no deal exit with all the problems and chaos that will cause. there has to be an agreement with the eu and there has to be a public vote. will you have a clear policy to back a second referendum? we had a clear policy all along that we will call for a general election and a referendum to decide on the future. would you support an internal party ballot on the direction of brexit? we will consult members and through the constituency parties and affiliated trade unions and bring theissue affiliated trade unions and bring the issue back to conference in september. don't you have an obligation to listen to this result and to the impact in your heartlands and to the impact in your heartlands and have a second referendum and a clear position to back remain? we

are listening very carefully to what eve ryo ne are listening very carefully to what everyone has to say on the subject. the country is clearly very divided. nigel farage and the brexit party don‘t offer any agreement with the eu, merely a crashing out, that will cause chaos forjobs and services. i think we do have a responsibility to listen to what everyone has to say and ensure that there is an agreement made and that is then put toa agreement made and that is then put to a public vote. would you concede that your ambiguous position on brexit has meant you're riding two horses and you have fallen flat on your face. not at all, what we have tried to do is bring people together. we have a tory government in disintegration and austerity and poverty. we have tried to point out in the future there has to be a trade relationship with the eu, otherwise many jobs

trade relationship with the eu, otherwise manyjobs are at risk. nigel farage wants to privatise the nhs and have a no deal exit from the eu. i'm nhs and have a no deal exit from the eu. i‘m not sure how that helps people‘s problems. eu. i‘m not sure how that helps people's problems. these are not good results for the labour party and people are saying, because there hasn't been clarity, you have lost votes to the brexit party and the liberal democrats, is there an answer to that today? the answer is we listen to our members and our supporters and the public, the a nswer supporters and the public, the answer is also we take the fight to the tories to end austerity in this country. to rebuild our health service and our social services. to invest in good qualityjobs for the future. that has to be the right way forward. the country needs to come together to face our problems together. emily thornberry suggested a further compromise talks are over and your party needed to commit to a second referendum and campaign for remain. do we have that today from you? what you have from me today is a commitment that our party is listening to our members and its

supporters and reaching out to other parties to prevent a crashing out from the eyoo i with no deal. —— eu with no deal and a commitment to a public vote, as we have proposed in parliament and colleagues including emily backed me in that request. john mcdonnell said there needs to bea john mcdonnell said there needs to be a public vote, can you clarify is that a general election or a referendum? the priority is for this government to call for a general election and have a general election, so we can decide the future. it has no majority in parliament and no legislative programme and parliament has been given nothing to do by the government. that is a demand that should be made and made as strongly as possible. john has pointed out andi as possible. john has pointed out and i support this that any final deal must be put to a public vote and that we are prepared to do and support it. the dividing line is

clear, if people want to know what you stand for, can i get in you that you stand for, can i get in you that you would stand to be a party that support remain and a second referendum. what this party does is support an agreement with the eu to prevent crashing out, support putting that proposal when agreed to a public vote. thank you. jeremy corbyn with miz first comments on camera following the result of those election results which have pushed the labour party and the conservatives into third and fourth place. norman smith, jeremy corbyn didn‘t sound there like the labour party policy is changing much. itry mains that we are listening and we wa nt to mains that we are listening and we want to keep everybody on board and don‘t want to leave with no deal. obviously those election results

indicate the current policy didn‘t get the labour party or the tories a great deal of support in these elections, so do they need to be more definitive. what we would i think was a holding position after some bad results. surely the conclusion from last night‘s result is the current labour strategy of constructive ambiguity has failed. it has fallen apart in the european elections. you‘re looking at a party down at 14% as the main party of opposition after nine years of conservative—led government. that is you know, dreadful for a conservative—led government. that is you know, dreadfulfor a party that wa nts to you know, dreadfulfor a party that wants to be on the cusp of power. there is pressure for a rethink. we have heard prominent figures like john mcdonnell and keir starmer and diane abbot in terms saying, we need

a public vote. although they‘re saying that vote could be a general election, in the real world no tory prime minister will consider a general election given what happened last night. so the only public vote that might be a possible policy option is to push for a second referendum. if you think of the likely trajectory, it seems to me based on last night, whoever takes over from based on last night, whoever takes overfrom mrs based on last night, whoever takes over from mrs may will be pushed to backing no deal. therefore, what is the labour position going to be, are they still going to be saying, can we have a labour brexit? that moment has gone. what was interesting from whatjeremy corbyn said is he did not talk about a labour brexit. he is no talking about delivering on the referendum. he is talking about listening to the people and listening to the people and listening to the people and listening to his party. if you look at the calendar, october 31st is the next deadline. the end of september, we have the labour party conference

and it seems inconceivable there won‘t be huge pressure onjeremy corbyn if he has not moved to embrace the idea of another referendum. although there are people in the party who are desperate for him not to do it, the balance of forces are becoming overwhelming. that is a debate that must happen and none of it will happen quickly, but there is the deadline of 31st october, that will be difficult to change within europe. so, does it look, we are getting closer again to the prospect ofa getting closer again to the prospect of a no—deal brexit? getting closer again to the prospect of a no-deal brexit? i think we are getting closer to a no—deal brexit, because what we have learned from mrs may‘s failed attempt to get a deal through, famed attempt to —— failed attempt to reach an agreement with labour and what we have learned

from the two parties going for the middle ground, is referendums tend to be divisive and now we are back to be divisive and now we are back to where you‘re a leaver or a remain and the attempts to find centre ground have collapsed and therefore for the tories and labour, they have to reflect, can they really try and resurrect a compromise in whatjust the few months left until the next deadline? i would suggest it is close to a doomed exercise. not least of which is within the eu, they have said what they‘re prepared to offer. it seems to me extremely unlike think they will budge on it. evenif unlike think they will budge on it. even if they were, there is no time to budge on it. i think the time table, the political momentum is now all leading us almost back to a rerun of where we were in 2016. what

is clear is how divided labour and the tories are in themselves. there has been talk for a long time of a realignment of domestic politics and there was change uk that got half a million votes, but no seats, can you see the tories and the labour party surviving as they are? the system helps them and locks us into a two party system. you can see situations where tory remainers frankly feel they have to support the opposition parties rather than countenance the idea of no deal. we had the chancellor, i mean basically the no two in government, saying yesterday in terms, although he has never voted against the tory party, if it came to it, he would think about it and there are other tory mps who would think final analysis country before party and they would do what they had to do to stop no deal. and

thatis they had to do to stop no deal. and that is because brexit is an issue which is bigger than party in some ways. it is about identity and our history, it is a massive issue which trumps the normal party loyalty, whether that will split the two party system, i don‘t know, but in the short—term it is easy to see votes going all over the place. those results deliver proportional representation, so the... results may have been fragmented but it has delivered seats for all the different parties and we have ended up different parties and we have ended up with the brexit party in front in terms of seats and the liberal democrats doing very well in second place. the liberal democrats in westminster would have been written off just westminster would have been written offjust prior to this, but they have had their renaissance and it is leaving labour and the tories

licking their wounds. well, let‘s focus on scotland now, where the final results have yet to be announced. well, let‘s focus on scotland now, where the final results have yet to be announced. we‘re expecting that soon and we‘ll bring you live coverage. but it‘s already clear that the snp have done very well with three out of six meps. with me now is the snp‘s leader at westminster ian blackford. thank you forjoining us. it is not expected that the last result that is coming in will change it? no, we have about 38% of the vote. it is the best result for any party in the whole of united kingdom and we have won three out of six of seats in scotland. we are delighted. in particular when you consider that we have been in government in scotland for 12 years and one of the things that we have said to the people of scotland, vote for us to stop brexit, because we know it will be damaging to our economic interest and tojobs. damaging to our economic interest and to jobs. i damaging to our economic interest and tojobs. i have been listening to what norman smith has been saying about the labour party and there is about the labour party and there is a difference, because we have given leadership to that remain vote in scotla nd leadership to that remain vote in scotland and championed the benefits

from membership of the eu. when you look at the political reality of where we are and the voice you have been putting out that is remain and the votes that have come in for remain, the reality is it looks like we are more likely heading for a no—deal brexit on 31st october. that is an even harder deadline. absolutely i‘m not going to hide that i‘m worried about the possibility of that. we are going into an internal tory leadership battle, they‘ re into an internal tory leadership battle, they‘re trying to out—brexit each other and the default position is becoming a no—deal brexit. the act of parliament is already there. u nless we act of parliament is already there. unless we can change the law, it means that we will be leaving the eu at the end of october and i think we have got a responsibility of working with others to extend that hand of friendship as norman talked about to some tory remainers to stop that

happening. i think it is clear when you look at the uk government‘s economic analysis published last november, a no deal would be catastrophic for our economy and it would be a act of... we are going back over those arguments that we have done again and again. looking at the figures of where we are. the only way to shift it is a general election and obviously the voting system is very different in a domestic general election, versus the proportional representation in europe, but it is conceivable that we could get a... a parliament that reflects a n we could get a... a parliament that reflects an appetite for no deal? we will see. in many respects i think the landscape in the rest of the uk and scotland is different. we have done well in scotland and all the polls suggest we would strengthen our position if there was a general election in scotland and i would welcome that. but we are having different discussions in scotland

and saying to people, westminster‘s not functioning, there is no working government here. our interests will not be served by being outwith the eu. we are asking people to reflect on the choipss they wants to —— choices they want to make as to whether scotland should become an independent country. that is the debate we will be having. it is an argument that we will bring forward if there is a general election. will you be pushing for a second independence referendum. the first minister said we have that mandate from the 2016 election. we won that election and we had a commitment on a material change of circumstances that we reserve that right. when is it rights? we are bringing forward legislation in the scottish parliament. of course we need westminster to give its agreement. i would say to westminster, respect democracy and the sovereignty of the people of scotland. we are... when

would you anticipate putting that point to westminster and saying we are ina point to westminster and saying we are in a position and we want there to bea are in a position and we want there to be a second referendum and we want... we are going to put the legislation through the scottish parliament that would enact that and have a conversation with the people of scotla nd have a conversation with the people of scotland in a constructive manner as to the vision and the values. we wa nts to as to the vision and the values. we wants to learn the lessons of what happened with brexit and how do we create the circumstances of economic growth and deliver a fairer scotland. one aspect that is important. we are almost out of time, would you anticipate a second independence referendum the end of this year? within the lifetime of scottish parliament and the next election is may 2021. we want to haveit election is may 2021. we want to have it before then. thank you. now back to ben. thank you. let‘s take a look at

the overall results across the rest of europe and the spread of seats in the european parliament. the big centre—right and centre—left blocs have lost their combined majority amid an increase in support for liberals, the greens and nationalists. pro—eu parties are still expected to be in a majority but the traditional blocs will need to seek new alliances. the liberals and greens had a good night, while nationalists were victorious in italy, france and, of course, the uk. however, the centre—right european people‘s party does remain the largest bloc and analysts say it is likely to form a grand coalition with the socialists and democrats bloc, with support from liberals and the greens. negotiations and horsetrading lie ahead. meanwhile, turnout was a surprise. figures have risen to 51% —

up from 42.6% in 2014. the turnout bucked a long trend of decline in voter numbers, and was the best since 1994. our europe correspondent gavin lee is in brussels. let‘s talk about that turnout. whatever else you want to say about the elections, they have been good for democracy, more voters across europe turning out to vote. more than 200 million people across europe voting. in 1979 about 60% of voters going to polling stations, that has dropped every time until this first year bucking the trend, back around 50%, the highest since 1999. there is a few things to extrapolate why people vote, europe has been on the the agenda, whether you love it or hate it, whether it

is brexit, the migration crisis or greece, it has been political rope a dope for the eu for the last few unions, with terrorist attacks added to that, it has been calmer since the migration crisis ebbed. if you look, i was talking to an eu council official, who said you can only fight so many political wars and all these thing going on, there is only brexit to deal with and we have to see from the eu point of view what it almost a passing tide of brexiteers, the brexit party being the biggest party of any single country and eu fans and those within the commission hope that passes by october. so paint a picture of what it means for the european parliament and the implications of the make up for the eu as a whole? more

deliberation, because the parliament is more diverse and fragmented. you have to two traditional centre right blocs, you think of government by government and country by country, to have more power, to have more sway and get something done, you have to work within the 751 meps by majority. so scrapping the european mobile roaming charges, that was worked, because parties form groups and you have the centre right and left and two traditional parties have ebbed away, filling the place, the liberals have been the single highest change in terms of the number, an extra 39 seats and the macron‘s party coming second in france, who will form part of that coalition and the flowering of green party, the second highest rise and then you have the nationalist far right, another big rise, not as some, including the figurehead at

the moment in italy, where it is the biggest party, some losses in sweden, didn‘t make much of an impact in spain either, but in france, in italy and that is where they will be pushing. there will be rabble—rousers. they will be pushing. there will be rabble-rousers. thank you for that. that is gavin lee. back tojoanna at westminster. big success for the liberal democrats, who came second and topped the poll in london. with me now is the lib dem mp tom brake. in this place the liberal democrats we re in this place the liberal democrats were written off and this is a dramatic resurgence? yes, it comes on the back of some good council election results. a fantastic day for us, topping the poll in london, getting three out of eight meps elected in london. brilliant flus for liberal democrats —— brilliant news for liberal democrats.

the european elections in terms of mps and house of commons hasn‘t changed anything. but i think is clear is that the vote which has just taken place was no ringing endorsement for instance of no deal. and therefore, i think it will renew the vigour of members of parliament —like liberal democrats and other political parties were going to do everything they can to block no deal but also to secure a peoples vote, which i think, for any future conservative prime minister, is the only way out of this almighty mess they have created. it comes back again to that 31st of october deadline and is there actually anything like the time frame needed to have a second referendum and to continue with these debates? we are heading for no—deal brexit on the 31st of october. well, there is

still just 31st of october. well, there is stilljust time, we reckon a referendum could be delivered in 20 weeks, but even if that is not the case, the european union have indicated that as long as the uk is engaged in a democratic process, with a clear outcome, which would be the case with a referendum, where people are choosing between the deal at the moment, only theresa may‘s deal, there is none other on offer or staying in the eu, if the eu know we are engaged in that process, i‘m absolutely confident they would give us an extension to enable that peoples vote to take place sometime after the 31st october. it would be risky because it could end up with just as unclear a picture and then we have extended and then where are we? it is risky in that there is no guarantee the outcome of that referendum for instance would support the position i want, which is voting to stay in the european union. however, ithink is voting to stay in the european union. however, i think it‘s a perfectly legitimate democratic exercise because now, three years

after the brexit vote, some clarity is emerging over what brexit means and that‘s why i think it should be put to that test. do you support no—deal brexit being on the ballot paper? we have always said no deal would be a catastrophe for the uk, the governments own analysis confirmed that. but should be the paper? i think the deal which confirmed that. but should be the paper? i think the dealwhich has been agreed should be on the ballot paper, that the position we are fighting for a present. having no dealer ballot paper with the economic problems are... yes, but in terms of democracy, you did very well overnight, obviously but the brexit party did better and in terms of democracy, if there is a referendum, could you really say that there shouldn‘t be the opportunity for those who voted for the brexit party last night to say we do want to leave without a deal? well, we are not yet at the stage of deciding what the question on the ballot paper should be but certainly

what would need to be tested is if the government do come forward with no deal and say, the result of three yea rs no deal and say, the result of three years ago, that was an endorsement for no deal, i completely disagree with that, no 13 years ago was arguing no deal was on offer. on the contrary, they also had a fantastic brilliant deal was on offer and we would definitely have to put that to the test. thank you so much. i will hand you back to the studio. more political reaction from here later. studio: let's political reaction from here later. studio: let‘s get the thoughts now of the eminent political scientist from the university of strathclyde, john curtis. lots of different political factions and parties trying to interpret these results. what is your reading of these results from the point of view of where this country stands now on the issue of europe?” view of where this country stands now on the issue of europe? i think the two lessons to take away. the

first is that basically speaking we are still roughly evenly divided on theissue are still roughly evenly divided on the issue of brexit. if for example you take the level of support for the two party is arguing in favour of leaving without a deal, and whose support we know from opinion polls comes virtually entirely from voters, that the brexit party, ukip, 35%, if you take the three parties that are not only in favour of a second referendum, but it‘s also clear a re second referendum, but it‘s also clear are primarily drawing their voters from remain voters, that the lib dems, green party, change uk, also 35%. the snp in particular got also 35%. the snp in particular got a lot of support from leiva voters and about more problematic. anyway, the first point is that roughly speaking, the expressed support for parties that were adopting out the second referendum or the no deal

position was roughly equal. second, neither of them got 50% of the vote. anything close to it. you certainly can‘t argue that this is clear evidence of the public wanting one or the other. what it is is confirmation not that these are majority references but that these are the two most popular preferences and that‘s what the polls have been saying for a while and they motivate sufficient voters who were willing to move in one direction or the other rather than continuing to back the conservatives who are also being punished because they had failed to deliver on brexit. but also the labour party, whose so—called constructive ambiguity finally seems to be struggling to get both leave and remain voters. which the labour party seems to be acknowledging although party seems to be acknowledging althoutheremy party seems to be acknowledging although jeremy corbin does party seems to be acknowledging althoutheremy corbin does not seem to be able to say in a clear statement he definitely wants a referendum. we seem to got closer

towards it. let me put you what nigel farage said. the victorious leader of the brexit party were saying. essentially these results area saying. essentially these results are a reflection of the original referendum result. if you look across the country, he says it is about 52—48. he says we are pretty much where we were three years ago. things have not changed. people have not changed their minds. to what extent is that accurate? the best evidence i can give you are the opinion polls, which have been regularly asking people how they voted in the referendum. opinion polls are not infallible but equally trying to look at an election result is also problematic. they have pretty consistently been saying 53% remain, 46% leave. yes, i agree with nigel farage, it‘s close. pretty evenly divided. it‘s probably in the opposite direction butter, and this is crucial, undoubtedly it‘s a group who did not vote on thursday. the

remain and lead in the opinion polls primarily have expressed views of those who did not vote injune 2016, many of whom are younger, and the crucial question would be whether they would turn out to vote. one thing i can tell you is the opinion polls, when they were being asked where they turn up last thursday or not, this group is relatively disinclined to do so, so certainly, yes, we are close. maybe remain have an advantage but it‘s an advantage which could be built on sand rather than on concrete. thank you very much indeed. let‘s go back to westminster. thank you. joining me now is conservative mp for north west leicestershire and brexiteer, andrew bridgen. the area voted for the brexit party with 43.3% thank you forjoining us. and actually nigel farage previously askedif actually nigel farage previously asked if you would like to be part of the brexit party. do you wish you had said yes? no, i told nigeli

of the brexit party. do you wish you had said yes? no, i told nigel i was stopping to fight for the heart and soul of the conservative party. ensuring that the withdrawn agreement bill didn‘t go through and we have a eurosceptic leading the party. and delivering the brexit we promised at the british people. there an old saying which is when the people are scared of the politicians that tyranny and when the politicians are scared of the people that‘s democracy. i think we had a good dose of democracy last night and had a good dose of democracy last nightandi had a good dose of democracy last night and i hope all the mps in parliament, those who have never accepted the result of the referendum i hope they will pay close attention to the results we saw in those european elections last night. presumably your reading of the result is that the tory party needs a candidate leading to that is going to deliver no—deal brexit on the 31st of october. i think one of the 31st of october. i think one of the main problems with theresa may is that she never convinced the european union we were willing to leave with no deal, so we never ever had a chance of getting a deal that was acceptable. i‘m not so concerned

about no deal. there‘s been a lot of preparation and legislation passed here and on the continent and if we go with no deal we can immediately trigger article 24, offer the eu reciprocal tariff quota free trading exactly as we have got at the moment, until we negotiate a detailed free trade agreement. we've heard that a lot over the months, which is that the government position needed to be to convince the eu that we are serious about no deal and get a better deal. there is no chance now of a better deal, is there? we have got the deal that we have got. we have to be on the 31st of october on a managed no deal and offer them gap 24 and they would be stupid not to take it because they have a huge trade surplus with us. are on the brink of recession. why wouldn‘t they take it? are on the brink of recession. why wouldn't they take it? do you see a candidate who would take this

country out of the eu on the 31st of october with no deal? borisjohnson is looked to as the potential candidate. do you think you would do it? boris, dominic raab, esther mcvey have all committed to leave with no deal. i would like to see those candidates come together and form alliance of euroscepticism. the fa ct form alliance of euroscepticism. the fact is, whoever is the next leader of the conservative party is absolutely crucial that they get us out of no deal. we might if we are lucky get a second chance with the electorate. i promise you they will be no third chances if that is let down again. when you look at the breakdown of the voting last night, anti—brexit parties took around 40% of the vote and pro—brexit, 34.9%. excluding labour and the tories. what we are going to see now is the

result labour were abysmal. very bad for the conservative party. realignment of labour. i'm not talking about that, but i‘m talking about what the country at large said last night in these results in terms of being ready to leave without a deal or wanting to remain a force actually the greater share was the remain. bear in mind this was a turnout of 33%. we turned out 79% at the referendum in 2016. it was 61% for leave. it is what it is. you can‘t guess what people didn‘t vote my devoted. this is how people voted. anyone who was trying to spin the brexit party didn‘t romp it last night, democracy deniers. we have a first past the post system which would have meant the conservative party had no mps at a general election if it was conducted on the basis of last night. no conservative mps. about six or seven labour mps. this is a game changerfor the anyone is at the brexit party did

not win those european elections last night is absolutely living in denial. thank you very much. more reaction from her later. back to banner. studio: thank you. our correspondent anna holligan is in the netherlands. what was the message from voters there? well, three headlines from here in the netherlands today. first of all a resounding victory for the pro—european labour party. strong performance from the conservatives. and the eurosceptics failed to meet the extremely high expectations, so it was seen going into these elections as a fight on the right between the new kid on the block, democracy nationalists, and the conservatives. in the end it was the labour party who won the day. 70% of

voters in the netherlands voted for pro—eu parties. we are also seeing the greens very well represented here and of course there is talk of this brexit effect, so what impact will brexit have on voters here in the netherlands? it is of course so exposed to the british economy. well, it seems quite a lot. dutch people are very concerned about the chaos, the labyrinth of the uk has a p pa re ntly chaos, the labyrinth of the uk has apparently seemed to enter into, so leaving is seen as less appealing. essentially, the one party, who really pushed for exit was the freedom party, an exit being the netherlands exit from the eu, decimated. they got no seats whatsoever. but this is quite a nuanced picture, because it seems as though it was a battle between those eurosceptic parties and the voters being redistributed although there has been a slight fall.

overwhelmingly, the view from the netherlands, the position here is that they are pro—eu, but there is some degree of scepticism and the green issues are very some degree of scepticism and the green issues are very much on the agenda. thank you very much. we can go to spain now. our correspondent is in madrid. spain has the fifth biggest contingent to the parliament and the pro—socialists doing well. contingent to the parliament and the pro-socialists doing well. yes, that‘s right, very good result for the socialist prime minister sanchez. remember, he won the election last month, so a lot of people were looking to the selection to see if it was going to confirm that swing to the left. that we saw in april. it did seem to confirm that swing. it was a good result for the socialists, coming in first well ahead of a second placed conservative popular party, who lost ground in the european election. and also remember that yesterday was

something of a super sunday because there were local elections held across the country as well. the socialists performed well in those for the most part. but the far right party gained seats in the european parliament for the first time. spain is pro—european for the most part and most anti—european party is vox but did not talk much about spain is relationship with europe in this campaign. nonetheless, it has three seats in the european parliament, the far right vox party. thank you very much. we‘re going to hearfrom our correspondents in scotland and northern ireland where counting continues in a moment. but first let‘s have a closer look at the results in wales. the brexit party won the largest share of the vote with almost a third — 32%. plaid cymru gained second place

with 20% of the vote. labour came in third with 15%. the liberal democrats closely behind with 14%. the conservatives in fifth place, followed by the greens. let‘s go to cardiff and join our correspondent there for us. bring us up correspondent there for us. bring us up to date on the pitch in wales because this has been, let‘s call it a disaster for the labour because this has been, let‘s call it a disasterfor the labour party because this has been, let‘s call it a disaster for the labour party in wales. yes, no doubt about that. the last time labour came third in a national election in wales was back in1910, so national election in wales was back in 1910, so perhaps unsurprisingly questions are now being asked of what went wrong last night for the party, why are they third behind plaid cymru, the first time in the nationalists 90 year history they outperformed labour in a poll like this and questions being asked about what exactly went wrong for the

message on brexit, because even in the past when labour hasn‘t been doing very well at a uk level, in wales they have managed to have this clear identity from uk labour, what‘s been called clear red water. the man who coined that phrase is the current first minister of wales, the current first minister of wales, the leader of the welsh labour government mark drakeford but he stayed close to corbin in terms of messaging on a referendum. now that‘s been called into question. some prominent members of his government, including jeremy myles, the international minister is saying we need to rethink our position on brexit. for plaid cymru, outperforming labour as they did last night, the big question is can they translate that support into other elections with less than two yea rs other elections with less than two years away from assembly elections in 2021? will plaid cymru be able to outperform labour again there? we will have to wait and see of course. it's will have to wait and see of course. it‘s worth remembering in that building behind me, the welsh

assembly in cardiff bay, the brexit party already has four assembly members. a couple of weeks ago four am is used to be ukip members, defected to the brexit party so they‘ve already got a strong hold that in the welsh assembly. will they be able to replicate the success that they saw last night gaining a third of the votes in wales ? gaining a third of the votes in wales? if it comes to the assembly elections? thank you very much indeed. much more from scotland and northern ireland where they are still counting as well. more reaction to the european election results. on the bbc news channel. let‘s recap where we are. it‘s been a big blow to the biggest parties in westminster. it was formed only six weeks ago, the brexit party let‘s not forget. nigel farage mocha pot party has won no

fewer than 28 seats so far in the european parliament. much more coming up on the news channel. now we say goodbye to viewers on bbc two. so, as promised, we will continue our round—up around the uk and we will go to scotland. lorna gordon is in glasgow, where the snp are very, very happy with their work, aren‘t they, lorna? yes, the last results have just coming they, lorna? yes, the last results havejust coming in they, lorna? yes, the last results have just coming in scotland. still waiting for the scotland wide tally but we know the result shows that the snp topped the poll as well which means they topped the poll in 30 out of 32 local authorities in scotland. in some local authorities like dundee, they were 30 points clear of their nearest rivals. this means they have secured their best ever european election results, increase their share of the vote and look set to send three meps back to

brussels. nicola sturgeon has been speaking and called it a historic victory, saying it showed scotland had rejected brexit once again. the first minister speaking in dublin this morning. she added to those comments and criticised the london government for treating scotland with utter contempt over brexit and she pointed out that over 60% of scotla nd she pointed out that over 60% of scotland voted to remain, and she said those people have been ignored. she also said she expects scotland will vote for independence the next timea will vote for independence the next time a referendum is held. the leader of the snp at westminster ian blackford has also added to those comments suggesting the result has cemented the case for a second referendum on scottish independence in the case of no—deal brexit. that‘s the story of the big winner here in scotland. i think it‘s interesting to point out the big loser without a doubt is labour.

they had a dismal night, five years ago, coming a close second here. in scotla nd ago, coming a close second here. in scotland this time, their vote collapsed. they were fifth in the vote over night. a dreadful, dreadful night for them too. two mps, ian murray and martin whitfield had described this as a deeply upsetting campaign and countless friends and supporters, they said, told them personally they could not vote for labour because of europe and they said the blame for that lies squarely with the leader. one final point to note of course is that 1 final point to note of course is that1 million final point to note of course is that 1 million people final point to note of course is that1 million people voted for brexit here in scotland in the eu referendum three years ago. their vote seems to have coalesced around the brexit party, which is only been in existence for six weeks, securing one mep here in scotland. the lib dems have one, the conservatives also have one. not a great night for them but it might take some comfort from the fact that they had a higher

share of the vote run elsewhere in the uk. so that‘s the story but the big news from here in scotland is the snp have won big. indeed, lorna, thank you. that‘s the view from scotland. our ireland correspondent emma vardy is at a count in magherafelt. are they still counting behind you? yes, 800 staff brought in to do this mammoth count. three seats up for grabs here in northern ireland. two largest parties, the democratic unionists and sinn fein, expected to win one each, but the really interesting question is who that third seat will go to. whether it may buck the trend of the last 30 yea rs may buck the trend of the last 30 years and could go to a centre ground party, a party neither designated as unionists nor nationalist. the alliance party is the one everybody is watching, spearheaded by naomi long. there‘s been a recent increase in support or

centre ground parties in northern ireland, those who don‘t defy themselves along sectarian lines, but for so long here politics has been dominated by the big unionist and nationalist community divide. this is the most interesting european elections for northern ireland of all its last 40 years, and we are a bit behind the rest of the uk in terms of the count, because we only started at 8am this morning. there no vote counting on sundays in northern ireland, the christian tradition of making sundays a day of rest is the reason for that. so yes, slightly behind the rest of the uk in terms of how far they are with the count and we expect one of the first results to come in sometime this afternoon but counting here takes a bit longer because northern ireland uses a different voting system to the rest of the uk and that‘s because of this unique political set up in northern ireland where you need representations for both the unionist and nationalist sides of the community, so poised to be a very interesting result here to see whether a centre ground party could, for the very first time, take that

very interesting third seat and really the conversation would move on to what that says about northern ireland and the change that we are seeing in the post—conflict years, if you like. all right, emma, thank you very much indeed. let‘s go back to my colleague joanna gosling at westminster. i suppose normally we talk about the smaller parties in british politics. being squeezed. but last night the labour party and the conservative parties were squeezed. absolutely, yes. their strategy of trying to keep on board their support, their traditional party supporters, who have been split across both sides of the debate on brexit, really did not win out last night and it was the parties that had a very clear position, the brexit party, saying we would leave without a deal, who won big in the parties remain, the lib dems winning big last night. the lib dems of

course have been pretty much written off here in westminster but it was a very different political game at those european elections particularly with the fact that even though the vote but sickly on the remain side of things one split, because a proportional representation, it meant that parties won seats. —— matt particularly on the remain side. labour and the tories, the tories worst result for 200 years. let‘s get some reaction now. let‘s cross to gloucestershire now where we can speak to julie girling, a former mep for the south west region. she stood as a change uk candidate in the elections but decided not to stand because she had fears about splitting the vote, so thank you for joining us. what is your view on what has happened? well, i guess there were no real surprises. it was

looking as if this was going to happen and maybe it established labour and conservative going solo was a surprise, but it‘s polarisation and it is extremely worrying. nobody should bejubilant whatever side of the argument they are on. we are a very whatever side of the argument they are on. we are a very divided country and we need to work hard to do something about that. the politicians failed with that strategy of trying to bridge it. trying to keep everybody happy, it seems has capped no one happy. u nfortu nately i seems has capped no one happy. unfortunately i don‘t agree with the premise of your question. i don‘t think politicians tried hard to bridge it at all until it was much, much too late and positions had solidified. certainly the government‘s and the tory party did not try very hard until it was much too late and then came forward with something they knew hardliners would never accept, so it‘s complete

failure from a political strategy point of view. i think where we need to look now is to middle ground. the lib dems have had a cracking day yesterday. last night. and i think we need to look to them now for leadership in terms of uniting the more progressive side of politics, certainly as far as the eu was concerned and other policies. this lots of voices on that side of politics in this country, and change uk did not do very well. i think they were strategically poor, but they were strategically poor, but the message they had is a good solid one and the lib dems message is a good solid one. there are other parties with a good solid middle ground message which i support. and i think we all need to work very ha rd i think we all need to work very hard at the heart of british politics first with the electoral system change, so those voices can be heard. ok, we are right out of time but thank you very much. really

underline the point there about the proportional representation. it was what the lib dems used to stand for strongly in westminster but never saw it delivered. whether those arguments now start to come back to the floor again because proportional representation meant the fragmentation of the vote in europe last night did not really mean that the seeds for the various parties we re the seeds for the various parties were delivered. much more reaction coming up in a few moments. time now for a look at the weather. simon has the details. thank you. it‘s been rather mixed so far this bank holiday monday. some of us have had some dry weather with sunshine. elsewhere, quite a few showers moving in. those showers mainly focused across northern ireland, north—west wales, but throughout the afternoon, those showers drift further south and east, with some of them on the heavy side, maybe the odd rumble of thunder. a fairly blustery westerly wind in england and wales, temperatures up to 17—19, but a

northerly wind across scotland and northern ireland will bring those temperatures down, 9—13. feeling quite cool through the afternoon. even with sunny spells. through tonight, a lot of showers across the uk. overnight temperatures down to 6-10. uk. overnight temperatures down to 6—10. then tuesday, showers, mostly confined to eastern parts of scotland, eastern areas of england, where it could be heavy, may be thundery. further west, drier and sunnier. for many of us it will feel quite cool. abide by. by by day.

you‘re watching a bbc news eu elections special — with the brexit party a clear winner in the poll, the lib dems taking second place and a very tough night for the conservatives and labour. the brexit party — formed only recently — are the big winners, gaining almost a third of the vote and 28 meps we have a mandate and want the government to include us in their negotiating team. we have got to get ready for leaving the european union in october 31st. there is an awful lot we can do. the liberal democrats — who campaigned to stop brexit — come second with around 20% of the vote. and the green party make significant gains — posting their best

performance for thirty years. i‘m joanna gosling at westminster where the two main parties have suffered heavy losses. labour falls to third place overall with less than 15% of the vote — jeremy corbyn says the party‘s position remains unchanged. what this party does is supports an agreement with the european union to prevent crashing out, supports putting that proposal, when agreed, to a public vote. the conservatives are pushed into fifth place with an historic low of less than 10% of the vote. the children‘s minister says it‘s time to rethink their strategy. it is a wake—up call to my colleagues in parliament we have to deliver on the instruction of the british people in 2016, with the brexit referendum. in scotland, the snp have dominated the poll, winning 38% of the vote. we‘re expecting the final declaration shortly.

and in wales, labour are pushed into third place behind the brexit party and plaid cymru. we‘ll bring you all the results and the picture across europe where turnout is up and the traditional parties have lost out to smaller ones. good morning and welcome to this bbc news eu elections special. in a major blow for the largest parties at westminster, the brexit party have emerged as the clear winner in the poll for a new european parliament. formed only recently, nigel farage‘s party have won 28 seats so far and received almost a third of the share of the vote. both labour and the tories posted some of their worse results ever, while the liberal democrats

and the greens, who both oppose brexit, have both increased their vote and seats. in the last hour, jeremy corbyn has given his reaction to labour‘s results, saying the party‘s position had not changed, but they had a responsibility to listen, and to ensure a public vote on any brexit agreement. with ten out of 12 regions declared, let‘s take a look at the results in detail. and it‘s the brexit party that gained the largest share of the vote, almost a third, with 32%. the liberal democrats took second place with 20%, up 13 points compared to their result in the last eu elections in 2014. labour came third with 14%, down 11 points on last time. the greens increased their support, gaining 12%. the conservatives fell to a historic low with just 9% of the vote putting them in fifth place. although we‘re waiting for final results in scotland, the snp have polled strongly, while the uk independence party‘s vote fell heavily to just 3%. the new change uk party also failed to make an impact with only 3% share. 73 seats in the european parliament were up

for grabs with the brexit party so far winning 28. the lib dems have won 15. they gained just one in 2014. labour have ten meps, losing eight. the greens more than doubled their seats — with seven meps, up four. and the impact on the conservative party is clear. they‘ve got just three meps, down 15. plaid cymru have won one seat after beating labour in wales. the final results in scotland will be declared soon. counting in northern ireland got under way this morning. our first report comes from our political correspondent tom barton. a warning his report contains some flash photography.

if one party was expected to capitalise on the stalemate in the brexit process, it was the brexit party. and they were the clear winners of the night, taking almost a third of the vote and 2p meps. the party‘s leader saying that this could be just the start. our primary goal is to get this country to be independent and self—governing. if that doesn‘t happen, and if we don‘t leave, on 31st october, then what you will see is the brexit party stunning everybody of the next general election. it wasn‘tjust a good night for the brexit party.

at the other end of the spectrum, those standing on a clear remain platform, including the lib dems and the greens, also made great lea ps forward. it's the first time in 100 years that we've beaten both the conservatives and the labour party in the same election and we are clearly able to demonstrate that both the conservative and labour party did badly because they were absolutely split, couldn't articulate what they wanted on brexit. we've been very clear we are the strongest remain party the one thing that is clear from this result is that voters don‘t like the tightrope walk brexit compromises that the two main parties have been offering up to now. what then does that mean for the future? well, both for labour and the conservatives, it means that they are going to be under pressure to adopt simpler, clearer positions. for the tories, devastation at the polls is likely to see

leadership candidates taking even tougher positions. this is the worst result in our party's history in elections and it's a wake—up call to my colleagues in parliament that we have to deliver on the instructions the british people gave us in 2016 in the brexit referendum. for the labour leadership, the pressure is on the opposite direction — to back another referendum. what you‘re from me today is a commitment that our party is... listening to its supporters. a commitment that the future will of course be put to a public vote, as we have already proposed in parliament. so the votes have been counted, the results farfrom parliament. so the votes have been counted, the results far from clear cut. the country is still divided. any end to the brexit debate, a long

way off. i‘m here in westminster, where it has been a tough night for both the conservatives and labour. with the tory leadership race already under way, last night is likely to have a big impact on how theresa may‘s prospective successor pitches their brexit solution. but with labour also losing ground, there are also questions as to what its future policy should be. with me is our assistant political editor norman smith. lots of trying to work out exactly what these parties need to do now?” think both face a moment of truth. their existing strategy is not working. both the main partied were hammered last night, labour down 14% and the tories 9%. there will be pressure to see all the threat of nigel farage by pretty much committing to leave on october 31st come what may for the tories. you

imagine mps and tory party members will likely go for a new leader that isa will likely go for a new leader that is a no—nonsense no dealer. on the labour side, we are seeing a push to getjeremy corbyn off the fence and to back the idea of another referendum. we have heard from emily thornberry last night and from keir starmer this morning making similar remarks. s. jeremy corbyn is still on the fence, everyone is trying to interpret what he says and that means he is as ambiguous as ever. it is probably too early for him to make a substantive move. where the pressure will come now is for the demands to let the membership decide, if there is no consensus, let‘s put it back to the members and you could see that as being a way for labour to move policy on brexit.

jeremy corbyn talked about having a decision at the party conference. if thatis decision at the party conference. if that is the case, then i think we kind of know that the party membership is overwhelmingly remain referendum. so it would seem hard forjeremy corbyn to stand by his existing position. all right he can hold it for now, but over the weeks ahead, he is going to slowly be pushed towards backing another referendum. particularly if the tory party is going in the opposite direction of backing no deal. that means we will back to where we were in 2016, at the original referendum, where you‘ve got the tories more the brexiteer party and labour more the remain party and that position has never gone away. is there time for that debate to unfold or could it be a lot of hot air, because the october 31st deadline will mean, is

there a time table? it could. if you look at where we are now, may, we have two months of a tory leadership contest. if they‘re lucky they get it done byjuly. that is the summer and basically brussels closes down. this place pretty much cloepss down. —— closes down. the new european commission doesn‘t move in until the first of november. there is no way they can offer a new deal when they know a new commission coming in. the chances of a new deal in those months seems to be close to zero. so we are heading towards no deal, which then raises the question mark, can it be avoided? we are into deep territory and we heard from philip hammond saying people were

confronted with the possibility of a tory government leaving without a deal and people like him may consider voting against his party in ano consider voting against his party in a no xfd vote. -- no confidence vote. triggering a general election, would anything stop what is in place to leave on 31st. maybe not, but technically or in theory maybe not. but it seems to me almost inconceivable that a tory leader would allow himself to be pushed into a general election which is what would happen i presume if they lost a vote of no confidence. based on last night and the local elections, they would be annihilated. the other option of course is the eu decide, ok, new leader, we will give you more time again. because they have a vested interest i guess in avoiding a no deal. they want to retain close economic ties. so despite the mood music from brussels being that is

it, time‘s up, it is not impossible that they could decide again ok we will give you guys one last go with a new lead er, new reality. it is not impossible. is the last chance saloon the last chance saloon, maybe opening hours will last longer!m has happened before. now back to you, ben. let‘s take a look at the overall results across the rest of europe and the spread of seats in the european parliament. the big centre—right and centre—left blocs have lost their combined majority amid an increase in support for liberals, the greens and nationalists. pro—eu parties are still expected to be in a majority but the traditional blocs will need to seek new alliances. the liberals and greens had a good night, while nationalists were victorious in italy, france and of course the uk. however the centre—right

european people‘s party does remain the largest bloc and analysts say it is likely to form a grand coalition with the socialists and democrats bloc, with support from liberals and the greens. negotiations and horse trading lie ahead. meanwhile, turnout was a surprise. figures have risen to 51% — up from 42.6% in 2014. the turnout bucked a long trend of decline in voter numbers, and was the best since 1994. leigh millner has the story. for some, it‘s been a night of celebration. for others, commiseration. over 28 million people voted in 28 countries across the european union, the highest turnout in 20 years.

perhaps the biggest winner among the nationalist parties though was in italy where italian jeopardy prime minister matthew savini, boosted his right—wing league party to become the number—1 in italy. translation: it is not only the first in italy. marine le pen has the first party in france. nigel farage has the first party in britain. so italy, france, great britain, it is the sign of a europe that is changing. overall, mainstream parties that make up a coalition in the 751—seat parliament looks to be lost. the centre—right bloc in light blue looks like it will still have the most seats. this coalition partner, the socialists in red, will still be in second. both the liberals and the greens have made significant gains, though, and perhaps in a future coalition. for us it‘s very clear, we are the greens and who want we are the greens and we want to put green policies into place, so we want to vote for policies of climate protection,

we want to make sure we create a social europe with a social protection for everyone. elsewhere, populist parties gained ground in a number of countries including france, where marine le pen won her head—to—head battle with president macron. translation: i see this as a victory of the people who have taken power back tonight with fierceness and dignity. we welcome these results with joy and the national party‘s name has never been more fitting. but there will be little time for the next important business for the eu, as leaders are due to meet tomorrow at a special summit to decide who is going to get at the top jobs, including the presidencies of the council and commission. lee milner, bbc news. voting in scotland is now complete. we were waiting for the results from western isles. now it is complete. western isles. now it is complete. we can show you the results now. the snp 38%. the big winners really in scotland. 38% share. the brexit

party next with 15%. the liberal democrats 14%. the conservatives 12%. labour right down there on just 996 in 12%. labour right down there on just 9% in scotland. the green party 8%. change uk 2% and ukip 2%. a big boost for the snp, up 9% opt last time. the brexit party up even more, well, they‘re plus 15%. the liberal democrats up 7%. so there we are. in terms of seats, the snp have half the number of seats, three, the brexit party one, the liberal democrats one and the conservatives one. labour have no seats, the greens have no seats. and these are the new elected members of european parliament in scotland there. alan

smith, christian allard for the snp, for the brexit party lewis steadman bruce. the third snp member is eilidh mcleod and the single conservative there. that is the results completed. we were waiting for them to be completed from scotland. now they have been. the snp winning almost 38% of the share. well, let‘s head to westminster, where the two largest parties have had a very difficult night. joanna gosling is there for us now. yes there is a tory leadership battle under way and the results will play into that. labour are also scrutinising their position and

whether that position that they have had, which is to try to keep all aspects of party support across the country by saying that they would deliver on the referendum result but wa nted deliver on the referendum result but wanted there to be a deal has failed and whether it is time to show more clarity, because of course it was the parties that showed clarity in the parties that showed clarity in the european elections that won big. let‘s go to newcastle and speak to the labour mp laura pidcock. labour‘s strategy failed. labour's strategy failed. there is so much we can learn from these results, i‘m no going to say it was our best results ever. we have to reflect on that. what labour has tried to do is respect that result of the referendum, but know there are economic realities to leaving the european union and we have to mitigate those, so i think we have a lwa ys mitigate those, so i think we have always tried to bring the country

together, i‘ve always refused to see my constituents as either leave or remain, they‘re people enduring the tenth year of austerity and we have to have answers to that. what these elections have done is further display the divisions that exist in society. people were motivated to vote for the brexit party and vote for people who gave clear simplistic m essa g es for people who gave clear simplistic messages on the doors. the labour party were trying to do and are doing the morally right thing of saying we need to respect the result of referendum, but understand the economic realities of leaving the union that we have been part of for a long time. what you're outlining has been packaged together in the sort of political phrase of constructive ambiguity. can ambiguity be constructive. is it now

time for absolute clarity and that means saying that labour is the party of remain and people have made clear they have a choice and labour should say we are the party of remain. i don't think it was am big you tishgs it was we respect —— ambiguity and there are economic realities to leaving the union. you‘re right in the sense that we have to now reflect on this political reality, the conservatives have had their worst result in 200 yea rs, if have had their worst result in 200 years, if not ever and i‘m sure they‘re also reflecting on their situation. what that means for them is they‘re probably to going to take a harder swing to the right, and there is an implication on the labour party to do whatever we can in any circumstance to stop that no—deal brexit. in any circumstance to stop that no-deal brexit. you're talking in terms still of what you would, what

you wanted to be, you said the party has the moral high ground, but we are where we are and we are heading for brexit on 31st october. and... labour have been sort of pushed to come, to say they will support a second referendum, jeremy corbyn is not indicating that is where labour will be. in the absence of clarity, will be. in the absence of clarity, will we end up just with a no—deal brexit? what's happening, it is not about pushing, it is about understanding the political reality that are in front of us. what this government have done is turn every day into an emergency, because they‘re so internal dispute with each other, that we have ended up in a crisis situation. so the labour party has moved towards a position where we are saying there will be someone that leads the tory party who is comfortable with economic sabotage and comfortable to say we

will leave without a deal. the labour party are not comfortable with that and any deal that should be negotiated should be put to a public vote. there has to be for the labour party and i will say this clearly, a pause, a reflection, let‘s go back to our members, we have to remember that we are a democratic party, our policy is made by the members, gone are the days where cabinet members can make up policy on the hoof. there will be a period of reflection where we say, how do we stop a no—deal brexit and make sure that we stop the economic saab sabotage that would come from the new tory leader. thank you. georgina wright in a senior researcher on the brexit team at the institute for government. she‘s with me now. labour say they want to stop a no—deal brexit and want time to reflect. is there time, what can

stop a no—deal brexit? reflect. is there time, what can stop a no-deal brexit? the only way to stop no deal is to pass a deal or to stop no deal is to pass a deal or to stop no deal is to pass a deal or to stop the process altogether. a new prime minister could decide to make that difficult. at the moment the legal default remains no deal. what is your reading of the results last night? obviously the uk voted on brexit, brexit was the central issue and that came as no surprise, the two main parties didn‘t do well, that was also predictable. what you‘re seeing is a polarisation in uk politics and everything is seem through the prism of remain versus leave. what that means for the future is unclear. the challenge for the new leader of the conservative party is not only how do i unite the party, but also my country. is it

time to look beyond uniting parties, thatis time to look beyond uniting parties, that is what labour and the tories have tried to do and they have not been able to do it, do the parties break down and reform? we saw change uk hiving off some mps, but they were. . . uk hiving off some mps, but they were... they have not delivered much over night. it was a good night for the brexit party, but also a good night for the greens and the liberal democrats. you‘re saying parties that are gaining popularity and a polarisation in a system where it has been dominated by two or two and a half parties for decades. you‘re sensing a frustration among the electorate thinking we don‘t trust you, the conservative party to deliver and we just don‘t trust you the opposition, labour to deliver either. it is going to be interesting, because this polarisation isn‘t just interesting, because this polarisation isn‘tjust unique to the uk. across the eu you‘ve seen

new kind of political families taking place in the european parliament and they have that impact on european policy. with such a polarisation, does there need to be clarity from the traditional two main parties at westminster, because ina main parties at westminster, because in a system without pr, unless there is, what will happen? those results last night delivered in terms of proportional representation, although the remain parties were fragmented, they got representation in the end. there is a demand for clarity. but of course even if you find a consensus on how to proceed on brexit in westminster, that doesn‘t mean the eu will agree too that. they have been firm and said, we believe the best deal is already on the table and reflects months of negotiations that have been complex and at times tedious. you need to tell us what you‘re going to do. we feel the best offer is already on the table. something you also hear

when you travel around the eu, they say it seems to us that most of your frustrations don‘t lie in the withdrawal issues, but about the future, what kind of trading relationship you want us with, what security relationship you want with us. and i think all these parties will have to give much more clarity to what kind of future they want, whether that is close alignment with the eu or drifting away.” whether that is close alignment with the eu or drifting away. i haven't asked anybody the question, what do you think will happen, because it is a question we keep putting, it is clear we don‘t know what will happen. do you think, what do you think will happen? do you think there is a way we will go beyond 31st october or will that be a hard deadline? i don't know, like everyone, i‘m watching with curiosity. last night‘s result indicates there is huge polarisation and a need for clarity. whether that

can be provided by 31st october remains to be seen. there is a possibility that the uk leaves with no deal. there is a possibility that the uk leaves after 31st october with no deal. everything hinges on who replaces the prime minister, whether they can form a government that can survive and what that means for the brexit process. the next couple of week will be crucial. thank you very much. i will hands you back to ben for now. thank you. the newly—formed change uk party failed to win any seats, despite having a number of high—profile candidates, including racheljohnson, sister of conservative leadership frontrunner boris johnson. change uk mp anna soubry has criticised the party‘s interim leader heidi allen for allegedly telling supporters to engage in tactical voting. it was a bad night for the uk independence party, who lost all 23 seats they won back in 2014,

including the party‘s leader gerard batten. carl benjamin, the youtuber who was surrounded in controversy over comments he made about the labour mp jess phillips, failed to win a seat for the party in the south west. former english defence league organiser tommy robinson, who ran as an independent candidate in the north west under his real name stephen yaxley—lennon, also failed to win a seat. two candidates with the same name, but opposing parties, were elected for the same region. alexandra phillips is now a brexit party mp for the south east region, while alexandra philips for the greens is a green party mep also for the south east region. the political scientist professor sirjohn curtice from the university of strathclyde is here. i won‘t ask him to make sense of that one. but let‘s start with scotland. we have had all the results and a very good night for the snp? good. not astounding. i

mean, the one thing that the snp have managed to do that neither the conservatives or labour planned to do was to be a dominant party and hang on to their support during the campaign and the 38% they got is in line with what polls have been telling us what will happen if there was a general election or a scottish parliament election. but we should remember the 38% is only about one point better than in 2017 and that was greeted as a disaser the. i think o‘ ee—— disaster. they‘re the one party that was able to bridge the remain/leave divide and around 2596 the remain/leave divide and around 25% of leave voters voted for the snp, although they‘re in favour of a second referendum, because the snp can attract voters because of the issue of independence. so the snp have been able to ride the brexit tiger as a dominant party, retain

support. frankly, nobody else is left behind. what it has done north of the border is hitherto the conservative party has been able to present themselves as the unionist party that was now riding high, was advancing, was reviving, and that therefore it was able to take on and challenge the snp. well, that record looks broken this morning although intriguingly, actually the conservative vote in scotla nd actually the conservative vote in scotland was higher than in any other region of britain which in itself is perhaps showing how badly the party did south of the border. perhaps the most astonishing thing is the labour party came fifth. it failed to retain any of its seats, so scotland, once upon a time only three orfour so scotland, once upon a time only three or four years so scotland, once upon a time only three orfour years ago so scotland, once upon a time only three or four years ago was a labour fiefdom, the party has been crumbling badly north of the border. it is crucial to jeremy crumbling badly north of the border. it is crucial tojeremy corbett mug

bass chances to becoming prime minister because it‘s full of marginal seats but the party has taken a step backwards and i expect this could lead to questions about the leader of the scottish labour party north of the border, who has struggled to make much of an impression on the party although he is going to be extremely loyal to jeremy corbyn. and that is the story of the night in many ways. normally british politics, we talk about small parties being squeezed by the big parties but what happened last night was the big parties, labour and the conservatives, were squeezed by the smaller parties. they were. these elections are different. we have long known voters are more willing to vote for small parties in european elections and the like eurosceptic parties are so in so far as this was an election in which neither the conservatives or labour party were presenting a clear message on brexit, two thirds were saying frankly we struggle to know where they stand on brexit, so

insofar as a voters on the leave side had good reason to want to give the government a ticking, and we know the european elections are idealfor know the european elections are ideal for protest voting, against that backdrop this was a perfect storm. if voters were going to actually defect from conservative and labour this was when they would do it. the point is they did it and didn‘tjust do it on the leave side which we were expecting, but also showed signs of doing it on the remains side which we were not expecting and therefore as a result, as we can see this morning, there is as we can see this morning, there is a substantial debate inside the labour party about whether it needs to shift. we knew the conservatives we re to shift. we knew the conservatives were in trouble and the tory leadership concept would be dominated by brexit but we didn‘t know until the early hours of this morning of the labour party was also going to face internal angst about brexit but it‘s also now clear they are going to do so as well. what are the implications for a general election in terms of whether there might be an early general election and whether people switching from

their normal party allegiance to a different party, will they do the same ina different party, will they do the same in a general election? the first part is it‘s made the prospect ofa first part is it‘s made the prospect of a voluntary general election, the next tory prime minister voluntarily going to the country reduced because i think it‘s become clear it is unlikely that the conservative party could do well enough to win the general election until it delivers brexit. there‘s too many of those people, not all of them voting for the brexit party, but enough of them would to do the conservative damage. on the other hand, may be the risk of what is called an accidental brexit, that‘s what norman smith was talking about earlier, pointing out perhaps the next conservative leader will feel impelled to leave on october the 31st without a deal but that will raise the question as to whether or not conservative mps might bring the government down. the

prospects for the general election? certainly the lib dems‘ success is being mirrored in their current standing in the westminster polls andi standing in the westminster polls and i think we could anticipate that party will pose more of a challenge than they did in 2015—17. the snp would probably gain seats north of the border. the brexit party might not win very many seeds but they could damage the conservatives. it might point to labour coming first but both labour and the conservatives probably struggling to win an overall majority. look forward to another hung parliament in which a minority administration is formed by divided party that is reliant on the support of another party, going to be fairly tough as a supporter of that minority administration. we could just simply get a whole sense of deja vu albeit from the other side of the political spectrum. all right, thank you much.

with your thoughts on what the results mean. well, let‘s head to westminster where the two largest parties have had a very difficult night. joanna gosling is there for us now. let‘s speak now to the former labour mep mary honeyball, who announced her resignation from the party after polls closed on thursday. you are out of politics but still talking politics. what are your thoughts on how things have unfolded? it's been very bad for the labour party but even worse for the conservatives. what we should take note of, although nights of rajasthan so much publicity, and you would think the brexit party conquers all, it actually hasn‘t. if you add up the percentage of the votes of the remaining parties, the parties who stood unequivocally for remain, the lib dems, greens, snp, plaid cymru and change uk, they got a higher percentage of the vote than the brexit party. they were 6%

ahead, so! the brexit party. they were 6% ahead, so i think we should not see this as a victory for nigel farage and the brexit party. in actual fa ct, and the brexit party. in actual fact, more people voted for remain parties than voted to leave the eu. in terms of what it means for politics here, though, it is no more than effectively an opinion poll, is it, because it doesn‘t change anything in terms of the dynamic and actually, the beneficiary of what nigel farage delivered in europe might be somebody like boris johnson, it‘s looking likely that the beneficiary will be the tory party now getting a leader who was going to say, right, we do leave on the 31st of october deal or no deal. and anything the labour party says at the moment won‘t change that. and anything the labour party says at the moment won't change that.” think there‘s two aspects to this. you are absolutely right, it will undoubtedly have an effect on the conservative party leadership which

of course that personal become the prime minister. it will affect that but we also need to think about the effect it has had on the result of the referendum. the conservative party in the labour party both talked we must honour the result of the referendum and we have now had another nationwide poll and that result is different from the 2016 referendum, so there has been a shift. i agree not a very big shift but there has been a shift... how is it different? if you add together the support for no—deal brexit and add together the support for remain parties, in these elections, remain has a large proportion, but when you bring in the tories and labour, whose policy is to leave, the country is heavily, it in favour of leaving. that's not true of labour policy. labours policy as we will

offer the referendum result which as we believe. it's more confused than that and that‘s been a problem. the labour party and jeremy corbin has tried to face both ways and it will honour the referendum result and respect levers but also try to do something for those who voted remain. clearly it has failed and if you askjohn curtis or anyone else who deals with elections, they will say that in that tranche of labour voters there are quite a lot of people who voted remain and we can‘t break that down but we can‘t assume all break that down but we can‘t assume a ll vote rs break that down but we can‘t assume all voters voted leave because that‘s not true. what we do know is that‘s not true. what we do know is that the people who voted for remain parties outnumbered those who explicitly voted for the brexit party and we need to hold onto that because i think we are seeing quite a change and i think it will work forward as we go through one of us. thank you very much indeed for joining us. more reaction later but now back to you. studio: thank you, joanna. we‘ve had some reaction from the prime

minister. i think we can see that on twitter. a very disappointing night for conservatives says theresa may. some excellent meps have lost their seats, an excellent candidate missed out. labour have also suffered big losses. it shows the importance of finding a brexit deal and i sincerely hope these results focused minds in parliament. so that is the reaction from theresa may. on twitter. we will get more from that little bit later doubt. our reality check correspondent chris morris is here. let‘s talk about the brexit party. a curious phenomenon. only formed quite recently, no manifesto, but a very clear quite recently, no manifesto, but a very clear message quite recently, no manifesto, but a very clear message i suppose to voters on brexit. yes, the clear message, let‘s leave as soon as we can. as you suggest, not much detail in there. you can slice up the percentages anywhere you like but

it‘s clear this is a party who won the election and this is nigel farage mag was basic message, we wa nt farage mag was basic message, we want a farage mag was basic message, we wa nt a clea n farage mag was basic message, we want a clean break brexit. he very rarely used the term in the election campaign, no—deal brexit, which is what most people would call what he wa nts. what most people would call what he wants. when he talks about a clean break, he means no withdrawal agreement with the eu. ripped up what has been agreed between the government and the eu and just leave but that would mean all the laws we put together and the rules we have had which govern our relationship with the eu over 40 years would disappear overnight. the brexit party mag argument is we can be hard—nosed party mag argument is we can be ha rd—nosed during that party mag argument is we can be hard—nosed during that and get some sort of agreement with the eu nevertheless. but they are not exactly making it easy for themselves because one of the key things they have said, one of the specifics, of the £39 billion, the divorce deal, the financial agreement the uk has agreed to pay the eu over a number of years, he said we would not pay any of that and that‘s not exactly going to

persuade the eu to act cooperatively because they think about is money which is owed to them under international law. overall, nigel virage‘s big pitch, and we‘ve heard similar things from conservative leadership candidates, we want to leave on world trade organisation terms. tell us more about that because this is going to become more and more important potentially and pa rt and more important potentially and part of the conservative party leadership contest, this whole discussion about what a no—deal brexit might mean. yes, this term we will hear time and time again. it doesn‘t actually mean very much in a way because the rules of the world trade organisation are the very basic building blocks of international trade and then countries put other things on top of them to have things like free trade agreements and so forth. they don‘t on their own give you many benefits at all when you trade with other countries. what the brexit party and others say is don‘t worry there is article 24 we can use which means we

can still trade without any tariffs mark robins taxes on goods crossing borders between the uk and the eu. but to do that you need to have an agreement. you can‘t impose article 24 on another party you would have to have an agreement with the eu to do so and of course the brexit party says they will leave it out. and then you get to what the eu might wa nt then you get to what the eu might want from all of that if there was to bea want from all of that if there was to be a no—deal brexit, you would need to start talking to the eu about something sooner rather than later. but the eu‘s priorities, they said very clearly, the other 27 countries have agreed the first thing they want to talk about would not be a free trade agreement, but these rather familiar issues we‘ve heard about for more than a year now, the divorce bill, the irish border and citizens‘ rights, precisely those things which are at the heart of the withdrawal agreement that theresa may and her negotiators are so painfully drew up with the eu, so simple slogans and

solutions from the brexit parties have attracted a lot of support, but the complexity of the brexit process has not gone away. thank you very much indeed. but first let‘s have a closer look at the results in wales. the brexit party won the largest share of the vote with almost a third — 32%. plaid cymru gained second place with 20% of the vote. labour came in third with 15%. the liberal democrats closely behind with 14%. the conservatives in fifth place, followed by the greens. that is the situation in wales. our wales correspondent arywn jones is in cardiff for us. a terrible night for the labour party in wales. yes, that's right, and questions coming thick and fast about what exactly happened. you need to look at the context. the last time labour came third in a

national election in wales was in 1910 and, since then, the party is topped pretty much every wales election until last night when they came third. now, labour is a party of government in wales and that building behind me there, there is a labour first minister, mark dra keford. labour first minister, mark drakeford. he‘s stuck very closely tojeremy corbin is a message on brexit by not going full throttle for another referendum and that has been criticised today by a senior member of the welsh government cabinet, the health minister coming out saying it was a mistake. the brexit minister says they need to rethink the policy on brexit, held another referendum on brexit and of course it‘s been a better night for plaid cymru coming second, beating labour in this national election for the first time in their 90 year history and that‘s why plaid cymru‘s leader adam price is saying the tectonic plates in welsh politics have shifted as a result of last

night. whether that proves to be true of course remains to be seen but, as elsewhere, the brexit party other big winners in wales last night gaining a third of the vote, getting two out of wales are positively four meps in most parts of the country they will be celebrating. but the conservatives, terrible night for them, not only coming fifth, but in so many places coming fifth, but in so many places coming fifth, but in so many places coming fifth and being to coming sixth again. serious questions being asked about what went wrong. thank you very much there. let‘s get the picture in scotland now. the snp has comfortably topped the poll in the euro elections in scotland. they took nearly 38% of the vote and three seats. our scotland correspondent lorna gordon is in glasgow. celebrations amongst the snp there. yes, it‘s different compared to wales. the snp are set to increase

the number of meps to three out of the number of meps to three out of the six seats available. nicola sturgeon has been speaking after those final results came in and she called it an historic and spectacular victory for the snp and an overwhelming rejection of brexit by the people of scotland. she said the uk political system has failed and it had failed scotland utterly. she then went on to add that scotla nd she then went on to add that scotland set no to brexit in the referendum in 2016 and said this result makes clear we meant it. a very strong showing for the snp but it is important to remember that a million people in scotland voted for brexit in the referendum three years ago and the brexit party will also be sending a scottish mep to brussels as will the lib dems and the conservatives, whose vote held up the conservatives, whose vote held up better here than it did in the rest of the uk. other big stories in scotland, the dismal showing for

labour. they lost both their scottish seats in the parliament, came fifth in the scottish mode, six in the scottish capital edinburgh, and two of their mps released comments early on saying the blame for this lies squarely at the foot of the labour leadership, so a bad showing for labour in scotland. a very good night for the snp. lorna, thanks very much indeed, the picture from glasgow. our ireland correspondent emma vardy is at a count in belfast. they have been counting for a few hours now so when my to get some results ? hours now so when my to get some results? well, we are expecting to get a result perhaps earlier than people had thought possible. a lower turnout by about 6% than from the last european elections in 2014, which has speeded up the process a bit. three seats up for grabs, two we expect to go to the larger

parties, the unionists and sinn fein. that is what is strongly predicted. we could find the results of those seats rather shortly actually. but really, the big contest here and the interesting one that people are focusing on the third seat because for the last 40 yea rs or third seat because for the last 40 years or so the three seats here in northern ireland been taken by two unionist candidate and a nationalist candidate but we expect this year it may buck the trend and a big reason for that of course is brexit. it is a region on the battle lines in some cases because northern ireland, the majority of people voted to remain. the dup has been a party of brexit. sinn fein very strong for remain. this time around we are seeing an increase in support for the centre ground parties, parties who are no longer defining themselves as unionists, more nationalists, and the party people have been expecting to possibly buck the trend and take that third seed, the alliance party,

very much a party of remain, so brexit very much like in the rest of the uk, making a difference to the old style of politics here in northern ireland but it‘s certainly not a foregone conclusion and because of the voting system in northern ireland being rather different from the uk, people rank the candidates in order of preference, then may have to be recou nts to preference, then may have to be recounts to count up the preferences to actually find out who will take that pivotal third seat. ok, thank you. we will be back with you when we get those results but for the moment, thank you very much indeed at the counter. well, let‘s head to westminster where the two largest parties have had a very difficult night. joanna gosling is there for us now. very disappointing night to say the least for labour and the conservatives and we have been hearing from theresa may saying exactly that and jeremy corbyn with his comments too. are both pointing out they acknowledge the disappointing results for their own party and they we re results for their own party and they were disappointing for the other party too. in terms of what shifts

here in westminster, it‘s about positioning going forward because of there as the tory leadership contest already under way but tough questions also for labour in terms of whether they can carry on with that position they have held off what has been called constructive lack of clarity. it was basically to try to keep traditional party supporters on side which other side of the brexit debate they were on, so lets talk more about how this plays out. with me now are stephen bush, political editor at the new statesman. and professor amelia hadfield, head of the politics department at the university of surrey. welcome both. stephen, looking to labour, do they have to become the party of remain because the pressure is on the tories to become very pro—brexit. is on the tories to become very pro-brexit. the group we have not talked much about but is the largest

in the labour party, people who sit for seats where the lib dems came quite close in 2005, quite close after nick clegg and the iraq war, they will add look at those results in safe history is repeating and we can‘t have it too hard a brexit policy but equally there will be mps in yorkshire and humber who will look at the brexit party and go, you can‘t possibly have an anti—brexit policy, so there will be pressure to be more clear. however, that pressure is not going to be able to unify on what clarity looks like. the real politic in terms of what these results deliver is not happening of course but in europe, but in terms of how that then plays out and impact potentially on what happens here, what are your thoughts? we have had two elections, and now the british one has finished and now the british one has finished andl and now the british one has finished and i think it's what the polls predicted and it has shown a terrible impasse, but that's only one half of the story. now we have

to translated back to the 27 member states have been returning their own meps and now how are we going to populate the european parliament? one of the big stories coming out is the european people's party which had been the largest and still remains the largest, cannot now hold an absolute majority with the socialists and democrats, the second—largest party socialists and democrats, the second—largest pa rty. you socialists and democrats, the second—largest party you need 376 seats in the european parliament to hold the majority and they are missing it by 40 or 58 and it suggests if we compromise here in britain, those same dynamics will be playing out in brussels in the european parliament and whether they reach for social democrats, the lib dem equivalent in europe and even the greens, very strategically morphing themselves up and down the spectrum, that remains the second biggest theme. despite genuine fears, about a populist swing either left or right, it hasn't necessarily materialised. we've seen evidence,

but it's uneven in its total and the question is where will they sit in the european parliament? it'll be a desperate series of groupings, some not happy to be affiliated but others happy to join the italian league group, so that the location of the populist and eurosceptics. the reason for the 31st of october deadline is in orderfor us to be out before those meps take their seats, and that new grouping comes to fruition. how hard a deadline do you think we are looking at here? to fruition. how hard a deadline do you think we are looking at here7m is up in the air. you speak to some european diplomats and the talk about it as a matter of when, not if, and they tend to be countries with a disparate population you have no intention of infecting no deal on people who can still vote by post on their own country. you then speak to other diplomats who say we can‘t have people messing up wanting their

own internal drama is about being in or out. you‘ve been given an extension, decide. ithink, in practice, although we think about it as any nation will betoken as long as any nation will betoken as long as one nation around the table saying please don‘t do this to us, i think in practice there will always be an extension but that is quite a big if and it could equally go the other way. what do you think? do you think it‘ll happen on the 31st of october? i know the question is how ha rd october? i know the question is how hard it was a new deal will be see the conservatives race, but i think between now and then you've basically got the remnants of the european commission winding down in legacy mode at the moment. they won't be remotely interested in the psychodrama which continues in westminster. they will still try to forge a relationship with the uk so the idea of a possible extension with the new european commission is on the table for the problem is, at

this point, you have a deep split between emmanuel macron has made it very clear that this is it, is not for turning, and angela merkel, who i think it's willing to tolerate the idea of an extension if a better solution can be found by them, possibly it'll be something of a spent force. i think you have summed it up with a word psychodrama. it is all to play for here because is now going to be a question of exactly how these results are interpreted by labour and the tories in terms of their policy going forward. lots more reaction and analysis from westminster. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with darren bett hello there. a chill in the air today. it‘s warm enough when the sun is out but every now and again you could see clouds looking a bit like this as the showers come rolling in. it really is remaining mixed for the rest of the day. some sunshine, showers, which could be heavy. feeling cooler as well and the most significant change in temperatures will be in the north—east of england

where with a northerly breeze temperatures will struggle up to 11-12. in the temperatures will struggle up to 11—12. in the south—east and east anglia, 23 yesterday, so a higher here of 19 at best. not too many showers on the south coast. but quite blustery winds around here. northerly winds coming across scotland, dragging in the colder air and a sprinkling of showers across the country through the afternoon into the evening and slowly easing down a bit across western areas overnight. clearer skies in northern ireland and in rural parts. 3—4. elsewhere, 6—8. tuesday could be the chili a stay of the next view. the colder air coming down on that north to north westerly wind and by the time we get to wednesday, less cold aircoming infrom time we get to wednesday, less cold air coming in from the atlantic and they will be some cloud and rain. for northern ireland, western parts of scotland, wales, western england, may well be dry on tuesday. more sunshine further east, particularly

in the midlands and eastern england, quite a few heavy showers and they could be thundery. temperatures, 10-13. could be thundery. temperatures, 10—13. further west and toward the south—west, 17—18. chili overnight, mind you, because this brief high pressure will kill off those showers and then we dragged in this atlantic air, more cloud, higher humidity, and outbreaks of rain too. maybe some early sunshine on the eastern side of the uk but watching the clouds thickening from the west, outbreaks of rain pushing across. not much rain in the south—east of england. temperatures, 17—18. northern scotland seeing a mixture of sunshine and showers but getting that warmer air but not getting the rain but it will be moving its way northwards. thursday and friday, rain moving away from northern england, heading up into scotland and northern ireland and most places becoming dry over the weekend. really warm in the south—east of england. in the mid 20s.

the brexit party tops the polls in the eu elections — with the conservatives and labour suffering heavy losses. leader nigel farage said members of the brexit party should nowjoin the government‘s team negotiating with the eu. if we don‘t leave on october the 31st, then the scores you‘ve seen for the brexit party today will be repeated in a general election and we are getting ready for it. the liberal democrats — who campaigned to stop brexit — moved up to second with around 20% of the vote. the conservatives are pushed into 5th place — with an historic low of less than 10 percent.