Anti-EU campaigner Nigel Farage has been re-elected to the European Parliament from Britain, and says the strong showing for his Brexit Party is a “massive message” for the country’s long-dominant Conservative and Labour parties.
Farage’s newly founded anti-EU party is on course to take about a third of the vote and the biggest share of seats in UK voting for the legislature, as voters express anger at Britain’s Brexit gridlock.
But there has also been a big surge for the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, which are both strongly pro-EU.
The election result looks only to have deepened Britain’s divisions over Brexit, and severely weakened both the Conservatives and Labour.
Farage warned that if Britain does not leave the EU on October 31 as planned, “the scores you have seen for the Brexit Party today will be repeated in a general election.”
Mr Farage described it as “a big win for the Brexit Party, that’s very clear.
“A terrible night for the Conservative Party, but look at Labour as well.
“Look at what the Brexit Party has done to Labour in Wales and the North East of England so this is a big, big message, a big wake-up call to Westminster – will they listen?”
Mr Farage said if there was a second Brexit referendum the leave side would win again
“The real issue here is, is we’ve got a deadline of the 31st of October – that is the date upon which we are supposed to leave the European Union, that’s in five months’ time and what we’re saying, is, we’ve got a mandate now, we demand to be part of that negotiating team to get this country ready to leave whatever the circumstances.”