hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. we are in brussels next to the building that houses the european parliament. there are any number of stories in these election results. we will start with the uk. a party that formed only six weeks ago is the big winner in the eleciton — the uk's brexit party has swept to victory. we have got the right experience, let us make sure the country is ready on the 31st of october to leave the european union on whatever terms. it was a disastrous election

for the opposition labour party and the ruling conservatives who had their lowest national election result in their history. this is the worst result in our party's history in elections. we are also watching closely for the su ccesses we are also watching closely for the successes or otherwise of populist and nationalist parties. in france, marine le pen beat emmanuel macron. translation: emmanuel macron has no choice but to dissolve the national assembly and make it a more democratic election that reflects the opinion of the country's people. as if we did not have enough political drama, the austrian government has collapsed after the chancellor and his government lost a vote of no confidence.

when you have an election with 28 countries and an electorate of 415 million, and a range of different electoral systems, there was never going to be one story that came out of this, there was going to be many. across the next hour we will take you through all that most significant results and the ramifications of those results. let's start in the the uk. the brexit party didn't exist a couple of months ago. now it's come top of a national election. the liberal democrats and the green party also made significant gains. all three have very clear policies on brexit. here's the result. the brexit party over 30%, the liberal democrats threw 20%, the labour party only reaching 14%, conservative party did not even attract one in ten voters, they will

only send four meps to the european parliament. that is the worst nationwide election result of the conservative party has added its 185 year history. in 2014 nigel farage led the uk independence party to victory in the european elections. this time he's done the same with brexit party. here he is. listen to us. if you want to talk to us, do. we can be helpful. we have got people here amongst this team, many of whom have real experience of business. people here have even done deals before. isn't that interesting? we should be part of the negotiations in brussels. we have got the experience. let us make sure the country is ready on october 31 to leave the european union on whatever terms. the brexit party as the name suggests, wants the uk out of the eu as soon as possible.

and it came top. this though is interesting. all of the parties who explicitly oppose brexit together. however, it's still complicated as we're not factoring in conservatives. all the leading contenders to replace theresa may want brexit. as for labour's position — it remains nuanced. all sides are claiming that this outcome is supporting their arguments. but we can be sure it was arguments. but we can be sure it was a good night for that liberal democrats. here's their leader. it is very clear from the big picture of the results we now have a clear majority in the country who want to stop brexit. stay in the european union. as for our party of liberal democrats, we did brilliantly well.

taken together with the local government election results a few weeks ago, we are clearly now a major nationalforce again. our next big task is to work with other people in other parties who are like—minded, initially to stop britain crashing out of the european union by accident. theresa may, still prime minister for a few more days, has tweeted, seeing... results are focusing minds. but in lots of different ways. here's one conservative mp.

this is the worst result in a national election. it is a wake—up call regarding the instruction that the people gave as in 2016 in the brexit referendum. the parties that have done well have a very clear message on where they stand on brexit. the labour party position is more nuanced. a number of seniorfigures have said it is time for the labour party to commit to a second referendum. labour leaderjeremy corbyn is facing increasing pressure from senior members of his party to back another referendum on brexit. this is his shadow finance minister. we are faced with the potential of a brexiteer extremist almost certainly becoming leader of the tory party, whether borisjohnson, dominic raab, someone of that ilk.

we are faced with the prospect of a no deal which could have catastrophic consequences, and a tory leader being elected on that basis no matter what the damage for jobs. we have got to prevent that. of course we want a general election. realistically after last night there will not be many tory mps who will vote for a general election, so our best way for doing that is going back to the people in a referendum and i think that is what our members want. this is the position ofjeremy corbyn himself. we are listening very carefully to what everyone has to say on this subject. the country is clearly divided. farage and the brexit party do not offer any agreement with eu, simply crashing out which would cause chaos to jobs and services across this country. 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 to a public vote. i can tell you about northern ireland as well now. all three european parliament seats for northern ireland have been taken by women for the first time ever — one each for the dup, sinn fein and alliance. listen to the excitement when the results were read out. matt -- matt —— martina anderson, 452,000 and 36. naomi long... naomi long, alliance party, 170,307.

everyone engaged in the announcement of those results in northern ireland. iamjoined in ireland. i am joined in brussels by a couple of guests. camino mortera—martinez, senior research fellow at the centre for european reform. valentina pop, reports for the wall streetjournal. when you hear of the brexit party sending all these representatives to parliament was really that is a cause of concern here? yes, emmanuel macron was opposed to the extension of the deadline, saying we do not wa nt of the deadline, saying we do not want representatives having an influence over who is going to lead the eu institutions in the next five yea rs. the eu institutions in the next five years. and how the programme of the commission will unfold. is there anything that european parliament can do about that? they are at all

elected and entitled to come along. they have decided to allow the uk to ta ke they have decided to allow the uk to take part in the european elections are now they have to respect the outcome. however, ithink are now they have to respect the outcome. however, i think that we need to remember that the brexit party is a nigel farage's latest outfits, and nigel farage with ukip already had 24 meps, the same number of meps the brexit party will send to brussels. his influence will not be as high as some people think. some people say this is a fundamental shift in how uk politics is working, how would you characterise this in the european parliament, how significant is the movement? it is quite significant that the mainstream parties have lost in the sense that that socialist party and the european people's party is, centre right party, can no longerform a majority just with the two of them, but they need to include other parties and

why didn't the coalition to get a majority. that is good for the parliament because that will reflect better mood in europe. these two blocks, centre—right and ce ntre—left, these two blocks, centre—right and centre—left, who once had a majority, now have to develop relationships. will they be formal relationships? how does it work? willie agreed to a coalition for five years orjust agree to work with each other uncertain policies. formerly the grand coalition between the conservatives and socialist was to ta ke the conservatives and socialist was to take turns. president of the parliament, 142 and a half years, the other for two and a half years. they also agreed on the commission and diplomatic chief and other things. they are not obliged to enter into a coalition, theyjust work together, theyjust give supply and confidence agreements, it is just a question of whether they can get support of the other parties for your own policies and also for your

own people. what about the turnout? lots of people in brussels are excited about it. it has gone through 50%. it was close to 40% last time stop is that success? it is still below national elections. it isa is still below national elections. it is a success in terms of the entire process being more legitimate, more people participating in elections. you can argue whether that is a vote for europe, or a vote argue whether that is a vote for europe, ora vote in argue whether that is a vote for europe, or a vote in participating ina debate europe, or a vote in participating in a debate around europe. it is nevertheless a significant and more and more people want to have a say on where europe should go in the next years. how might that influence the role of the european parliament mr mark the european parliament is a lwa ys mr mark the european parliament is always seen as the beaker of the three compared with the commission and the council. it strengthens the parliament's and the council. it strengthens the pa rliament‘s hands and the council. it strengthens the parliament's hands in that they are the ones representing the people, look at as, you have always said we do not get enough turnout, so we do not have legitimacy to be with the grown—ups at the table. the high

turnout will be one more argument that the parliament can actually have a say in things it does not at the moment. we are sitting amongst a few people enjoying a drink on what has become quite a chilly spring evening in brussels. we are digesting all the different dimensions of these results in the european parliamentary elections. if you want to send us any questions on any part of that story, details are on the screen throughout. inafew screen throughout. in a few minutes we will turn away from the brexit dimension of this story and return to france and germany, the so—called power couple of the eu. it was a difficult night for both angela merkel and emmanuel macron. we will get into the details of why. in northern ireland, the results of the european elections have been confirmed within the last hour.

three women won the three seats on offer — diane dodds of the dup, the alliance party leader naomi long, and sinn fein‘s martina anderson. the two biggest parties here, the dup and sinn fein, they both retained their seats, but the big story of the day is northern ireland's third seat which for the very first time in 40 years of european elections in northern ireland has gone to a new centre ground party which designates neither as unionist nor nationalist, a party which attracts votes, cross community votes, and that is that alliance party. a massive result for naomi long. there has just been some huge cheers going up as that result was announced a few minutes ago. why does this matter for northern ireland? well, here the political landscape has been dominated for so long by unionist and nationalist parties, that big community divide. so, a really striking result.

we are live from brussels this evening and our lead story is the european parliamentary elections. all the results that came through the night. stories from france, germany, poland, italy, hungary. this is what happens in the uk. the brexit party, only six weeks old, has won a national election and the ruling conservatives are bumped down to fifth place. last week on wednesday we were in paris. this was billed by marine le pen and emmanuel macron as a political duel between the two of them and their quite different visions for france and for europe. it was tight. marine le pen's national rally won 22 seats.

president macron‘s en marche got 21. note how well the greens did. note also that the republicans and socialist are used to dominate, dominate no more. here's what marine le pen said after the results came in. emanuel emmanuel macron should dissolve the assembly and make it a more accurate reflection of the country. no word from emmanuel macron just yet. but this is the french prime minister. translation: i welcome these results with humility but also with determination to get the forces of progress in our country, determination to prepare for the future of our country. i will be working to continue the project of the president and the majority. emmanuel macron didn't win. but he still has plenty of influence

over what happens here in brussels. first — as french president he's one of the most influential voices within the european council which represents the leaders of the eu's member states. second, his newly elected meps are going to part of the liberal bloc in the european parliament which has plenty of sway. here's why. this is the breakdown of seats in the european parliament. the liberal block known as alde is marked in yellow. it may well have over 100 seats — out of 751. that would make it the third—biggest bloc and so potentially a kingmaker. mireille clapot, represents en marche in france's national assembly. shejoins me from her constituency of drome in south east france. thank you for your time. what was your reaction when you heard that en marche has lost to marine le pen?|j

have to tell you that emmanuel macron‘s party retains a good position despite that yellowjackets crisis. the yellowjackets crisis had a minor impact on the results. we remain on course and on track with our reform objective, including the conclusion of the great national debate, that took place in france after the first part of the crisis. the conclusion is that what president emmanuel macron does is reform, and this gives confidence to emmanuel macron, this is electoral stability. you are confident he can continue his reforms in france. what about his reforms for the european union? what do you think you should dry and do in brussels? certainly, as you mentioned, he will

have a key role to play, because, as you mentioned, there is no longer to major parliamentary groups, that centre—right and the socialists and democrats. now there will be central and liberal group, plus the greens. the green party now have very high results, which was not surprising. that means that the citizens want more importance to be given to environmental issues and certainly we will have a role to play in the central group and we will influence on these environmental issues. leaving the environment to one side, on the issue of security, of tax, of the military, emmanuel macron would

like further integration within the european union. but that winner of the election in france was marine le pen, who does not want any of those things. should you not be listening to voters on that? the renaissance had a programme on this issue, and again, we had to act on these views, as far as national rally is concerned, just remember, their score was lower than it was before. they lost two members of parliament. and remember that they are divided. the populist parties are divided. of course they have an influence but i do not think their influence will be so do not think their influence will be so high. we have a programme of

renaissance and we will of course apply it. many thanks for joining apply it. many thanks forjoining as on outside source. the centre right and centre left blocs in the european parliament have dominated the eu for years. they are still the largest blocs — but they no longer have a majority. they lost seats to greens, to liberals and in some cases to nationalists. each country tells a different story — let's look at germany. in the 2017 general election both angela merkel‘s christian democrats and the social democrats suffered. and that suffering has continued. in these european elections, the greens took the headlines as their vote went over 20%.

first place still went to the cdu and csu but this was their worst showings in european elections. the social democrats languished in third. also worthy of note. 60% of germans voted. and among younger voters, the greens were a long way in front. perhaps this was one of the first times we've seen climate change being a key issue in deciding an election swing in europe. perhaps this is a sign of things to come. now the fact the two main blocs in the european parliament do not have a majority means that they will need to form alliances with others — and the liberals and the greens look to be the obvious choices. so the both blocs has plenty of leverage. this is a big task and a big responsibility to put our demands

into practice when it comes to climate protection and also making sure that the european union becomes a social union. those two big centrist blocks, the epg and the s and d, are going to want to talk to you because they need you in order to have a functioning majority. what do you want in return for voting with them on occasions? well, for us it is very clear. 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 social protection for everyone, social rights for everyone. also we want to make sure that the rule of law and civil liberties are protected everywhere into the european union. also, for example, in hungary. so we are going to vote for green policies. quite a long list of demands from ska keller. will the greens get what they are looking for? the key word for many of the leaders last night was stability. they were looking for

a majority as wide as possible to make sure that legislating will go smoothly even though there are many populists and eurosceptics in the parliament. climate change, social justice, these have been on the agenda for other parties as well. i think they should be able to get what they are looking for. the greens have a shopping list. that liberals will have a shopping list which will not be the same one.|j think which will not be the same one.” think that liberals shopping list will be more complicated. given how different they are. at that moment the main aim for that liberals is actually to get a top job and to get actually to get a top job and to get a say on who goes where. when it comes to policies i am not really sure what that price is going to be. in the netherlands, they would be asking for a smaller role for the european union, other liberals are

going to be asking for other things. cani going to be asking for other things. can i ask you about green policy? the parliament could say they want this to happen, that to happen, but in reality if individual governments like the german government which is missing all of its climate change targets, does not want to do it, there is only so much the parliament can do. that is true. the parliament tries to make sure that it can't nominate the president of the european commission, which then can propose legislation. one of the proposals that the candidate for the centre—right party proposals that the candidate for the ce ntre— right party put proposals that the candidate for the centre—right party put forward is that the parliament should have the right to make their proposals as well. member states will also have to face we have seen it in germany in the national elections, green parties will be coming up, green parties will be coming up, green parties —— green issues will be topping the agenda, they will be under pressure nationally as well. thank you. we will continue talking as we go into the last 30 minutes

here in brussels. i will speak to you ina here in brussels. i will speak to you in a couple of minutes' time. on sunday we had reports of 27 tornadoes across parts of the united states, all tied in with a weather system that continues to push northwards and eastwards. again we might see severe storms over the coming hours, this time over the upper midwest, great lakes area, places like illinois and michigan seeing the threat of a few tornadoes and some larger damaging hail. the threat eases from these storms as we go into tuesday but there will be further big thunderstorms breaking out in the more usual place, tornado alley, kansas, northern texas, may see another batch of severe storms on tuesday. the south—east of the united states meanwhile is hot and

sunny. across southern china there isa sunny. across southern china there is a lot of cloud, we have also had torrential downpours. this low pressure is going nowhere fast. it means we will see further heavy rain across southern china over the coming day or so. we could easily see 50 mil metres to 100 millimetres of rain. we could see more of that, localised flash flooding and maybe landslides as well. over the last week or so this years south—westerly monsoon has not made much progress into the bay of bengal, it has stayed near sri lanka. buti into the bay of bengal, it has stayed near sri lanka. but i think we could see the arrival of this yea r‘s we could see the arrival of this year's south—west monsoon across the southern tip of sri lanka, wednesday, thursday, and it could arrive across the southern tip of india as we get towards friday or the weekend. the monsoon gives the majority of rain across this part of asia so it is eagerly anticipated. in australia at blustery winds are

affecting victoria and tasmania. feeling cool as well given the strength of the winds. plenty of heavy showers. there is more concerning whether in new zealand. heavy outbreaks of rain forecast for most of this week across the western mountains of the south island of new zealand. some areas could pick—up about half a metre of rain before the end of this week. localised flooding is a possibility here as well. for central europe there is another area of slow moving low pressure bringing cloudy skies, heavy thundery outbreaks of rain, cool weather for the time of year across italy. storms into parts of the balkans and central areas of europe. further east there is some warm sunshine. but thunderstorms could bring localised flooding to poland, they will push eastwards over the next few days. for us, more of the same, sunshine and showers, best of the dry weather across

western areas, most frequent of the showers in the east.

hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source live from brussels. over the last couple of weeks we have been moving around the european union covering the european parliamentary election campaign and of course we had to end up here in brussels for the result. there are any number of stories that emerged in the last 24 hours, one of the most extraordinary comes from the uk, a country that wasn't supposed to be part of these elections but because brexit hasn't happened it did take part, and a party that has only existed for six weeks won, the brexit party. this is the worst

result in our party's history in the elections. we are also looking at france and germany and elsewhere in the eu where we saw mixed results for populist and nationalist, but for populist and nationalist, but for marine le pen it all worked out. translation: emmanuel macron has no choice but to dissolve the national assembly and make it a more democratic election that finally reflects the real opinion of the country's people. austria's chancellor sebastian kurz has had quite a 24 hours, last night he got a sensational result in these european elections, today his government lost a vote of no confidence and it's out. there has been an awful lot of

attention in this campaign on right—wing parties, populist parties, parties, and we will try to pick through how some of them have gone because certainly some did not meet their very high expectations but others certainly did, and even exceeded them. let's start off in poland. the ruling law and justice's party is right wing, socially conservative and has resisted the european union's efforts to block itsjudicial european union's efforts to block its judicial reforms and it did very well. it took 45% of the vote, seven points clear of the pro—eu european coalition, which was a number of opposition partiesjoining coalition, which was a number of opposition parties joining forces, but they did not do enough to win. law and justice will be delighted with this, there are parliamentary elections coming up later in the yearin elections coming up later in the year in poland. next to hungary, viktor orban's fidesz won more than 56% of the vote. —— more than 52% of the vote. he has been clashing with the vote. he has been clashing with the media, hasn't done him any harm in the polls. they took 52% of the

vote, crushing all of the opposition. here is the prime minister. translation: the election victory meant hungarians give us three tasks, foremost the task of stopping immigration all across europe. they gave us the task to defend the europe of nations and to protect christian culture in europe. next to italy, matteo salvini's league party delivered a clear victory with 34% of the vote, bear in mind five years ago in these european elections the league had 6% of the vote. there is the full outcome in italy, also worth noting the centre—left democratic party. in the context of how it has done recently that is progress. in the context of five yea rs progress. in the context of five years ago in these elections it is way down. also worth noting that the league forms the government, the italian government, with the populist five star movement. in the last italian election five star was the biggest party. this result is matteo salvini confirming he is now

the dominant political force in italy, and he spoke to the press. translation: the balance changes for sure. the league is first in italy. marine le pen's party is first in france will stop nigel farage's party is first in the uk. orban's party is first in the uk. orban's party is first in the uk. orban's party is first in hungary. kitchen ski's party is first in poland. this means there is the desire for change, there is a desire for work, there is a desire for dignity. but not all populist parties and right—wing parties shared in that success. in the netherlands, curt wild the's party the freedom party lost all of its seats. right—wing parties also struggled in spain and in denmark too. let's hearfrom cristobal rivera, who co—authored a book about populism. if it is very important because sometimes we get the impression at least from reading the newspapers that these parties are the real winners across europe, and as though you are pointing it out, it may be

certain countries like italy and poland but in many other countries this is not the case. to understand that i think it is very important to consider that many of those parties are rejected by a big chunk of the population. if you think for example about spain and vox, we know approximately 70% of spaniards say they would never vote for that party, because of that what the social democrats have been doing in a very smart way, saying if you vote for me, the social democratic party, you are voting against vox. in this sense in many of those countries that we see the populist radical right parties are losing votes, it is because of the mobilisation of so—called negative partisanship, so mainstream parties are saying vote for me, not necessarily because you like me but because you hate the alternative. and i think this is a way of mobilising a sector of the electorate that has been very functional, for example in the case of spain but probably many other countries across europe. i spoke to politco's italy

correspondent silvia sciorilli borrelli about the scale of the league's win. well, the scale was pretty big, in the polls before the election all gave him under 30%, so there was a lot of commentary about him being down in the polls, compared to where he was in february and march, and a lot of the media were saying, see, given his aggressive campaign and his anti—eu and anti—european rhetoric, he was losing a lot of votes a nd rhetoric, he was losing a lot of votes and looks like a lot of the five star who have shifted to the ce ntre—left five star who have shifted to the centre—left were up in the polls, and instead they plummeted to below 20%, which none of the pollsters had forecasted. so it was a big surprise forecasted. so it was a big surprise for stop we knew he was going to be the first party in the country but definitely not up to 34%. and i know

hisjob title is deputy prime minister but is it reasonable to say he is now the most powerful politician in the country? absolutely reasonable, and of course he's going to figure out a way to sort of invest his popularity in potentially a general election, but of course right now he doesn't want to pull a plug on the government and be held responsible for making the government collapse, because probably that would attract some criticism, and also it would risk him losing votes. so now the question is how he can put this popularity to use, and he is talking about priorities and policies that the league believes are crucial for this government, and of course these are policies that their government partner the populace five star don't like necessarily full stop the question as he is the leader but will he be able to pass legislation and actually prioritise the league's crucial policies? so if that is the

perspective of italian politics, let's talk about european politics. he will be sending all of these meps to brussels, to strasbourg, to the european parliament, and he wants them to change the eu from the inside. can you give us more details on what his aspirations are? well, last night at the press conference he gave right after the results were known, he said european rules have to change, they have to change on agriculture, on fisheries, on trade, on national budgets, and these are all things he has been saying throughout the campaign and that have made them very popular during the past year in government. let's think about the budget spat last year between rome and brussels, because italy increased its deficit spending. but of course these are things that are very hard to modify ona eu things that are very hard to modify on a eu level and if you think about a parliament with 751 seats,

salvini's party has about 30, and his bloc, you were talking about blocs before, is set to have around 70, so of course this is hard. so he is talking to his voters and telling the italians he will have the power because of this 34% to change europe from within but this is actually far from within but this is actually far from reality because in europe he is a minority and his bloc will be a minority that is going to be isolated. camino mortera—martinez, senior research fellow at the centre for european reform. and eszter zalan from the eu observer

given the numbers, to what degree can he do that? i think the question is how much of a unified platform can they create with the nationalist parties? can they find a few issues, for example migration, where they can have a unified position? i think they can be disruptive, even though they can be disruptive, even though they don't have the numbers. mr salvi but once the eu —— salvini wa nts salvi but once the eu —— salvini wants the eu to share immigration. that will be the difficult challenge for them, that there nationalist parties, they have very different interests. so would you be able to have a unified platform on a few issues? i am have a unified platform on a few issues? lam not have a unified platform on a few issues? i am not saying they should have a full political programme but ona have a full political programme but on a few issues. one of the point salvini makes is that countries should be able to decide what issues themselves, whether it is budgets or immigration or whatever it might be, and actually they are not the only ones making that point. absolutely

not, that is a tendency we are seeing in the european union from the populace to the liberals. macron himself is quite keen in repatriating some powers to the member states though he doesn't say so openly. i thought he was the big integrationist? yes, that is what we all thought, but we realise he is calling for more power, because he isa calling for more power, because he is a liberal at the end of the day, right? so rebels want to have more powers for member states as well, so i think that will be a recurrent question in the european union in the years to come, the tension between those who want more integration and those in the centre states. with regard to the jobs that get handed out here in brussels, is there a possibility that mr salvini or one of his allies could end up with a job of influence?” or one of his allies could end up with a job of influence? i think thatis with a job of influence? i think that is pretty much impossible, although it will be interesting to see what they were doing that position. but i would rule that out.

we will chat again before we finish outside source. if you are watching and want to look up any of the results from the european parliamentary elections of course 28 eu member states taking part, they are all available, or you can get it through the bbc news app. in a few minutes on the programme we are going to turn our attention to austria. it has been a roller—coaster ride for chancellor sebastian kurz. last night he was celebrating a big victory in the european elections, today he lost a vote of confidence. in the west midlands, the brexit party took more than a third of the vote. it will have three meps while labour, the conservatives, the greens and the liberal democrats each have one. the people of wednesbury have been giving their

reaction. i thought it was a whitewash for the brexit party. yeah, i think people are just so fed up of it all and they just want somebody to say this is what's going to happen and get on with it. once and for all, this is what we've got. unfortunately it is not going to please everybody, but this is what we've got, let's stand together and achieve the objective at the end of the day, and steer this country where it needs to go. do what the people voted for, get we out with no deal. they want we more than we want them. no leadership at all. none at all. come on nigel, get us out, he is the only one speaking the truth, he. in london, the liberal democrats will have three members of the european parliament. the brexit party and labour both gained two and the green party secured one. the conservative party lost both of its meps in the region. there has been so much delay and i think everybody‘s absolutely cheesed off with the whole thing now. i think

the general public have all heard enough of it. i think people have voted to sort ofjust how the government they are not very happy with them. the conservative party are only looking after their own. they are not looking after normal everyday people. i am a big fan of boris, i think it's great, but the reality is he will struggle if he doesn't change the way forward. reality is he will struggle if he doesn't change the way forwardm says it all really, the result said it all. yes, he has done what he done but at the end of the day he is a bit ofa done but at the end of the day he is a bit of a joke. is i guess you could call this the evening after the night before in brussels, we are analysing the results of the european parliamentary elections. any number

of stories coming out of them, one of stories coming out of them, one of the biggest of the uk were the brexit party, they came top, despite only being formed six weeks ago, it reached over 30% of the vote and delivered a huge defeat to the conservatives, who came fifth. last night, austria's chancellor sebastian kurz was all smiles. he delivered a clear victory for his people's party in these european elections. today, though, he lost a vote of confidence in his government. this is the moment the president of the parliament announced it. mr kurtz looked reasonably relaxed eventually offering a handshake and leaving the room. earlier in the debate, this is what he said.

we will not put obstacles in the way but support them. let's ta ke let's take a couple of minutes to recap. mr kurz‘s conservative austrian people's party has been in a coalition with the far right freedom party or the fpo as it is sometimes called. heinz christian streich. he was the vice chancellor of austria in that coalition government but had to resign a couple of weekends back after a secret video emerged. it appeared to show him offering public contracts toa show him offering public contracts to a woman that he believes is a russian investor. the suggestion is if she buys a large stake in an austrian newspaper, that newspaper can then support his party. after the resignation, his freedom party collea g u es the resignation, his freedom party colleagues all resign from the government too. they were critical of sebastian kurz cosmic handling of

the affair and now the freedom has voted in support of the no—confidence motion, effectively ending the government it had been pa rt ending the government it had been part of, and if you noted that mr kurz was confident and relaxed during the event this afternoon, that may well be rooted in how the public voted in the european elections because this was last night. i have to be honest with you, i'm usually not lost for words but i'm almost speechless. we've been waiting a long time. we were optimistic but it's a brilliant result. there hasn't been anything like it. mr kurz‘ party won last night's vote with a record 34.9%. tweet and this tweet from analyst franz—stefan gady makes a point that's been picked up by others. my prediction: #kurz will be back in office by the end of october/november with an even larger share of the electorate.

in his political pocket. he definitely will be back. bell is also in vienna. here she is on what happens next. everything is up to austria's head of state. he will have to in the next few days appoint another ca reta ker next few days appoint another caretaker government. we have heard calls from the yes opposition, the social democrats in particular, saying that the whole caretaker government should be technocrats, and people have speculated that it might be former presidents, people who can take experts, a government who can take experts, a government who can take experts, a government who can hold the fort until the new elections can take place, but who don't have a political party agenda to push themselves, because that was the fear among certainly the social democrats, they felt that gave mr kurz an unfair advantage. another

twist on the story, heinz christian streich, the man at the centre of the whole scandal, has been elected asa the whole scandal, has been elected as a member of the european parliament so while the scandal brought down the government he was pa rt brought down the government he was part of, it hasn't ended his political career. we have looked at these elections through the prism of individual members of the eu. let's finish by stepping back and looking at the eu wide picture. we have already talked about the fragmentation we are seeing within the new european parliament and this is the reason why. the two centrist groupings, the evp on the right, the snd on the left, lost their working majority say they will have to forge new deals with smaller groups. that also affects who might be appointed to the top roles within the european union, president of the so, foreign policy, leader and perhaps most importantly president of the european commission. that is the job jean—claude juncker currently does at the moment. a man who would dearly love that job is at the moment. a man who would dearly love thatjob is the leader of the pp centre—right bloc. he is

favourite to take the job but even though the evp is still the largest grouping within the parliament, it shrunk, didn't do as well as expected, so that has put the pressure on. there is another candidate getting a lot of attention from the liberal alde group and i spoke with her last night.” from the liberal alde group and i spoke with her last night. i put my name forward because if you don't ask for things you won't get it and the worst thing that can happen is you get a no. that will hurt your vanity but you will live. just quickly, the president of the european commission is the one eve ryo ne european commission is the one everyone like speculating about. how do you assess where we have got to with this? i think it will be a choice by the national leaders, so a name that maybe we haven't heard of yet. let's see. tomorrow, the leaders will meet in the evening and have their first discussion. i doubt they will have a name. it is going to bea they will have a name. it is going to be a long process. is there a date they have to do it by? the new

commission is supposed to come into power on the 1st of november, so a couple of months. a little while. what are the fact is they are thinking about when they decide who served replace jean—claude juncker? cani served replace jean—claude juncker? can i say horse riding? is that a good expression? of course you can! country balance, regional balance, political balance and unfortunately gender balance is going to be an afterthought. it is going to be an afterthought? i think so, yes was not do you think so, because i have thought that they might should make sure it is gender balanced.” thought that they might should make sure it is gender balanced. i would like to be wrong, i often am, but i don't think we are going to see a com pletely don't think we are going to see a completely gender balanced distribution of topjobs completely gender balanced distribution of top jobs with, you know, two women and two men. there may be a woman at the top of one of the institutions but i'm afraid it will still be an afterthought. do these candidates for the commission have ma nifestos ? these candidates for the commission have manifestos? do they tell the eu member state leaders this is what i

would do if i come in? member state leaders this is what i would do ifi come in? because member state leaders this is what i would do if i come in? because of the design of the system, no. some of the lead candidates did have propositions. some of the parties had a team of lead candidates, they had a team of lead candidates, they had ideas, they had different ideas, so it isa had ideas, they had different ideas, so it is a mixture. it is really the party or the party policies that the leaders can look at and what they wa nt leaders can look at and what they want to achieve actually in the next five years with this commission. so it sounds a little like we have got to the end of the election campaign, but that just starts another quite long and complete the process here in brussels? god, it's going to take us in brussels? god, it's going to take us at least until i think the beginning of next year. i don't think the next candidate will be in power at the beginning of november precisely because of what we were talking about, a very fragmented parliament but also openly hostile governments in italy, hungary, poland and other places which will make this process very long and

difficult to watch. lots of people have told me this is just 28 national elections, there isn't anything we can call european politics. do you think the results we saw coming in last night change that analysis? ido i do think these elections have been different in the way they have been a lot of european politics because of brexit, because of security and because of other topics. both of you, thank you very much, appreciate your company. in the last two weeks, outside source has been moving all around the european union. we started of course in the uk, but from there we visited milan, warsaw, berlin, paris and finally arrived here in brussels for the results, and all the way we heard loud and clear how domestic politics were dominating the different campaigns. in the uk, it was about brexit. in

france, it was live ten versus macron. in poland, there is a culture war raging and in italy salvini is talking of protecting christian values. and yes, of course, those domestic concerns appear to have driven voters's decisions but something else happened here too, because people turned out far more than they did five years ago, and perhaps the increasing provenance of eurosceptic parties and politicians appears to have energised europeans. people are engaging with what they want europe to be and what they don't want it to be, and perhaps they are doing that ina way be, and perhaps they are doing that in a way they went a few years back. i also wonder if germany has pointed the way to the next big political shift. pollsters found there that climate change was one of the top issues for voters, and that translated into the greens exceeding 20%. climate change is moving still further up the agenda for voters and politicians. you can feel that resonating here in brussels. we will have to see how that manifests itself in terms of policies. so we've got the results and i will

just have to watch the ramifications of them in the coming months. we will be back in london tomorrow but from brussels goodbye. by by the end of the week it will feel much warmer across much of the country. we started the week bank holiday monday with cooler fresh air, sunshine and some heavy showers but we will change where our air is coming from later in the week. this is where we will find warmer air from the tropics to go with that weather system. at the moment it is cooler fresh air weather system. at the moment it is coolerfresh air coming weather system. at the moment it is cooler fresh air coming down weather system. at the moment it is coolerfresh air coming down perhaps from iceland. it will bring some showers overnight and into tuesday. the bulk will be across the eastern side of the uk, in the uk, mostly some parts of eglin. for the west, more in the way of sunshine and reasonable temperatures across south wales on the south—west of england but certainly chilly field and the

eastern side of england where we keep those showers going through the day. there is showers will then get killed off in the evening as we get this brief range of high pressure. then we start to see this atlantic aircoming in. this then we start to see this atlantic air coming in. this at the moment on wednesday is containing a lot of cloud. it will bring some rain as well. the temperature is not rising just yet. it will be a bright start for the eastern side of the uk with some sunshine but with cloud over from the west, some rain coming in, most of it across north wales, north—west england and southern scotland. not much rain in the south—east, 18 degrees possibly, and we are still in the cold air across northern scotland where we have some sunshine and some showers. once we see these weather fronts arriving across the uk, we willjust see them sticking around for a while. we lose any progression really from the atlantic. we see one pulse of rain heading across toward scandinavia. another area of rain developing along that weather front coming back into northern ireland, over the irish sea and more particularly into northern england and southern scotland. still in the colder air

across northern scotland so temperatures just about making double figures but starting to warm up double figures but starting to warm up across double figures but starting to warm up across england and wales away from that rain as we start to see the cloud breaking up a little bit more, and that process will continue as we head towards the end of the week. we've still got that weather front, tending to move its way a little bit further north, allowing warmerairto little bit further north, allowing warmer air to come little bit further north, allowing warmerairto come in little bit further north, allowing warmer air to come in around that area of high pressure. we need to break up the cloud to realise some decent temperatures and there will bea decent temperatures and there will be a lot of cloud for northern ireland, some rain here coming back in to scotland, moving away perhaps from northern england. ridgers here starting to rise especially to the east of the pennines but the real warmth is further south, through the midlands, towards the south—east of england, those temperatures easily into the low 20s. those temperatures continuing to rise the end of the week. our weather front is still there stuck across northern parts of there stuck across northern parts of the uk and ahead of it we are drawing on that warmth. so we will see some further outbreaks of rain or showers coming back into northern ireland, up into scotland, most of england and wales should be dry, there will be more in the way of

sunshine, and those temperatures continuing to rise pretty much across the board across england and wales, looking at the mid 20s in the south—east. of course it is a different story for scotland and northern ireland, even though it is warming upa northern ireland, even though it is warming up a touch here. so we may well find the heat building by the end of the week lasting into saturday, but sunday or may be monday the heat gets pushed away into the near continent, and we open up into the near continent, and we open up the door then for atlantic air. but this is much more unsettled, more changeable atlantic air, we have the jet stream strengthening, slamming right into the uk and it will push showers or longer spells of rain across the uk, particularly around the middle part of the week. warming fora around the middle part of the week. warming for a while and then u nsettled.

in the european elections, as conservatives and labour are heavily punished by voters. the new party emerged with more than 30% of the vote. their leader says he's now ready to take on a general election. if we don't leave in october the 31st, then the scores you have seen for the brexit party today will be repeated in a general election, and we are getting ready for it. but it was also a great night for the liberal democrats. they say it gives hope to all people who want to stop brexit. it was the worst—ever result for the conservatives. they came in 5th place, giving new urgency to the search for a new leader. and labour is also nursing heavy losses —