Lib Dems Win Largest Share of Euro Vote in London
Labour tops poll in local boroughs as Conservatives are humbled
Votes being counted in Ealing
The Liberal Democrats have won three of the eight seats available for the London constituency after achieving the highest vote of any party in the elections for the European parliament.
Their share of the vote surged by 20 points to 27.1% ahead of next placed Labour on 24% This meant that the Lib Dems gained three seats having had none before while Labour lost two.
The result was a disaster for the Conservatives who gained 7.9% of the vote thereby losing their two seats. The Brexit Party achieved 17.9% of the vote winning two seats although one of them was at the expense of UKIP. The Greens retained their seat in London increasing their vote by 3.5 percentage points.
Successful Lib Dem candidate Luisa Porritt said, "Real and pressing issues have long been ignored by our two main parties, that is why we must have a people's vote."
A London Labour Party spokesman said, "We're ecstatic that both Claude Moraes and Seb Dance have been elected as MEPs for London.
"Our MEPs will go to Brussels championing workers rights, fighting climate change and the other issues important to our party."
Benyamin Habib, one of the two newly elected Brexit Party candidates in London said, "We launched seven weeks ago and proved in that short time the nation still wants Brexit and Brexit with a no deal".
Turnout in London was 41.3% slightly up on 40.1% in the previous election.
| Eight members elected for the London region | ||
| Seat | Full name | Party |
| 1 | Irina von Wiese | Liberal Democrats |
| 2 | Claude Ajit Moraes | Labour Party |
| 3 | Benyamin Naeem Habib | The Brexit Party |
| 4 | Dinesh Dhamija Cinnabar | Liberal Democrats |
| 5 | Scott John Ainslie | Green Party |
| 6 | Seb Dance | Labour Party |
| 7 | Luisa Manon Porritt | Liberal Democrats |
| 8 | Lance Philip Forman | The Brexit Party |
The number of votes which each successful party had during the process of allocation of seats was as follows:
| Party | Vote total | Allocation |
| Liberal Democrats | 608,725 |
Seat one |
| Labour Party | 536,810 |
Seat two |
| The Brexit Party | 400,257 |
Seat three |
| Liberal Democrats | 304,363 |
Seat four |
| Green Party | 278,957 |
Seat five |
| Labour Party | 268,405 |
Seat six |
| Liberal Democrats | 202,908 |
Seat seven |
| The Brexit Party | 200,129 |
Seat eight |
At the local borough level Labour's vote has held up relatively well compared to other parts of London. In Ealing Borough Labour got 32% of the votes against the Lib Dem's 26% Rupa Huq the Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton commented after the result on Twitter, "Conservatives are fifth behind the Greens which is pitiful for a borough run by then until 2010 and who held my seat until 2015."
| Euro Election Vote - Ealing Borough | |
| Party | Vote share |
| Labour | 32% |
| Lib Dems | 26% |
| Brexit | 13% |
| Green | 10% |
| Conservative | 7% |
| Change UK | 5% |
In Hounslow borough there was a similar outcome with Labour achieving the highest proportion of votes at 30% well above their average for London beating the Lib Dems into second place unlike in Islington, Jeremy Corbyn's home borough, where the Lib Dems achieved the most votes.
| Euro Election Vote - Hounslow Borough | |
| Party | Vote share |
| Labour | 30% |
| Lib Dems | 23% |
| Brexit | 18% |
| Green | 8% |
| Conservative | 8% |
Nationally the Brexit Party won the largest share of the vote at 31.6% with London the only region declared so far in which it didn't top the poll. Out of 64 MEPs declared so far, they will have 28, the Lib Dems 15, Labour 10, Greens seven, the Tories three and Plaid Cymru one.
However, the combined vote of parties explicitly backing a second referendum (Liberal Democrats, Greens and Change UK) was 5.95 million compared to 5.79 million for the Brexit Party with votes in Remain supporting Scotland and Northern Ireland still to be declared.
May 27, 2019