meps_battle

The Brexit Party and Labour top the poll in the Northwest in a night seeing smaller parties make significant gains

  • The Brexit Party made big gains on the polls, out-performing all other parties
  • Bitter end to the night from the Conservative Party who only elected 3 MEPs
  • Good night for Lib Dems and Greens who saw large gains

Just weeks after the results of the local council elections, the British public took to the polls one more time to elect MEP’s to the European Union.  
The Brexit Party led by veteran eurosceptic Nigel Farage were the most successful British Party on the night achieving 31.7% of the national vote despite only forming three months ago.

The Brexit Party Leader Nigel Farage who topped the poll. Photo courtsey of Gage Skidmore on Flickr

Similar to that of the local council elections just a few weeks back, The Liberal Democrats were big achievers on the poll gaining 18.6% of the overall vote placing just above Labour who received 14.1% making it a difficult end to the week for the Conservative Party.

 The Northwest 
The night looked a little more promising for Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn whose party Gained two MEPs electing Theresa Griffin and Julie Ward.

However, this wasn’t enough to beat Farage’s Brexit Party which saw Claire Fox, Henrik Nielson and David Bull elected, with the party topping the poll in the region with 541,843 votes. 

Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn whose party lost a number of seats. Photo courtsey of Chathamhouse on Flickr

The night also saw the independent far right candidate Tommy Robinson, whose controversial campaign tour stoked tensions between neighbouring communities in recent weeks, polled second to last with just 2.02% of the vote.

It was noted that during the count Robinson had appeared to have left the building early, not appearing on stage during broadcasts of the official announcement. 
 

A graph showing the number of votes each party / independent received 

The Eight MEPS:
The Brexit Party- Claire FOX, Henrick Nielsen, David Bull 
Labour- Theresa Griffin, Julie Ward
Liberal Democrats- Chris Davies, Jane Brophy
Green- Gina Downing 

One Clear loser
There was one clear looser on the night and that was The Conservative Party had managed to elect only three MEPS nationwide polling less than 10% of the overall vote. 
The Party had failed to elect any MEPS to the North of England, this just coming days after Theresa May stood down as party leader. 

Between these results and the local council results, it looks like Mays “strong and stable” coalition has taken hard hits from the public on the polls, loosing seats to smaller parties such as the Green Party. 

Theresa May who stepped down as Prime Minister just days ago saw her party take a huge defeat. Photo courtsey of Arno Mikkor (EU2017EE) on Flickr

Polarised Public 
Brexit was the theme of the night, where the two biggest scoring parties stand in opposite ends in this political battle between leave and remain.

Tonight’s elections results showcase the current polarisation of politics within England with the two largest parties in the country being out done by candidates with a clearer stance on the issue.

This means if Corbyn gets his wish for a general election, the Brexit Party and Lib Dems could make huge gains as Farage hinted at in his victory speech.