Global Information2019 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom information
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All 73 United Kingdom seats in the European Parliament | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 37.2%[1]  1.4% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results of the 2019 EU Election in the UK by local authorities. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2019 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2019 European Parliament election. It was held on Thursday 23 May 2019 and the results announced on Sunday 26 and Monday 27 May 2019, after all the other EU countries had voted.[2] This was the United Kingdom's final participation in a European Parliament election before leaving the European Union on 31 January 2020, and was also the last election to be held under the provisions of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 before its repeal under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
Initially no election was planned in the United Kingdom, as Brexit (following the 2016 referendum) was set for 29 March 2019. However, at the European summit on 11 April 2019, the British government and the European Council agreed to delay British withdrawal until 31 October 2019. From then on it was the default position in UK and EU law for the election to take place; however, the UK Government continued making attempts to avoid participation by seeking agreement on a withdrawal to take place before 23 May.[3] On 7 May 2019, the UK government conceded that the election would go ahead.[4]
The election was the ninth time the United Kingdom had elected MEPs to the European Parliament (and the fourth for Gibraltar). Candidate nominations were submitted by 16:00 on 25 April 2019, and voter registration was completed on 7 May 2019.[5][6] The British MEPs sat until 31 January 2020.
Brexit was the central issue of the election campaign;[7] arguments were made that it was a proxy for a second Brexit referendum.[8][9] The election was won by the Brexit Party, which won the most votes and became the largest single national party in the European Parliament, being the dominant choice of those who had voted to leave the European Union. The votes of those who had voted to remain were more fragmented: the Liberal Democrats made substantial gains, finishing second nationally, while the Green Party of England and Wales and Scottish National Party also improved on their 2014 results; however, Change UK failed to win any seats. Compared to the 2014 result, the Labour Party suffered heavy losses, while the Conservative Party lost all but four of its MEPs. The previously dominant UK Independence Party failed to elect any MEPs.
In Northern Ireland, the Republican pro-Remain Sinn Féin and the Unionist pro-Leave Democratic Unionist Party both held their seats, while the Ulster Unionist Party lost its seat to the pro-Remain non-sectarian Alliance Party. In Scotland, the Scottish National Party elected three MEPs, while Labour lost both its MEPs and failed to win a seat in Scotland at a European election for the first time in its history. In Wales, the Brexit Party became the largest party, while the nationalist, pro-Remain Plaid Cymru came second. The Liberal Democrats became the largest party in London.
The election was the first national poll in the United Kingdom since December 1910 in which a successor party to the Liberal Party reached higher than third place in the number of votes or seats, and the first ever national election in which the Conservative Party received less than 10% of the votes cast.
- ^ "European Parliament election turnout - UK Political Info". www.ukpolitical.info. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
- ^ "Ministers set for further Brexit talks". BBC News. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
- ^ "How UK is gearing up for European elections". BBC News. 11 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
- ^ "Brexit: UK will take part in European elections, says David Lidington". BBC News. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- ^ "European Parliamentary elections in Great Britain" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
- ^ "Types of election, referendums, and who can vote". gov.uk. HM Government. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
tiglookswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Nielsen, Nikolaj (10 April 2019). "EU election now a 'proxy referendum' on Brexit". EU Observer. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
- ^ Garton Ash, Timothy (18 April 2019). "Britain will have its second referendum – at the EU elections on 23 May". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 May 2019.