Brexit Party takes three seats in Yorkshire and Humber

BBC The Brexit Party winning MEPs (from left) Jake Pugh, John Longworth and Lucy Harris — The Brexit Party took 36% of the vote

The Brexit Party has taken three of the six seats in the Yorkshire and Humber region in the European election.

Labour won one seat but lost another, with the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party gaining a seat each.

It means that both UKIP and the Conservative Party lost two MEPs each in the region.

Brexit Party winner John Longworth, whose party polled 36% of the vote with 470,351, said Parliament had "been ignoring the people".

Other votes saw Labour poll second place with 16% share, while the Lib Dems took 15% of the votes and the Greens polled 13%.

The Conservatives came fifth, taking 7% share with UKIP faring less, pulling in 4% of the vote.

The Yorkshire Party performed better than Change UK, with 50,842 votes compared to 30,162.

The overall turnout for the Yorkshire and Humber region was 33.52% - down marginally from 33.63% in 2014.

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Mr Longworth said: "I will be there calling out the European Union if they try and do things that are detrimental to our region, or detrimental to the UK, and looking for the opportunities while we're in the European Union to make things better."

Lucy Harris, the Brexit Party's second winning candidate, said as MEP she "simply wants to achieve Brexit".

Magid Magid was the Green Party's lead candidate

Magid Magid, Green Party candidate — Magid Magid was the Green Party's lead candidate

The Conservative's John Proctor, who failed to retain his seat along with his former colleague Amjad Bashir, said Tory losses were a "failure of Westminster politics".

"The issue is Europe but clearly we've paid the price for what cannot be resolved in Westminster," he said.

Shaffaq Mohammed, who gained a seat for the Lib Dems said he was amazed and "really grateful to the people."

Shaffaq Mohammed said he would be fighting for a people's vote

Shaffaq Mohammed, Liberal Democrat winner — Shaffaq Mohammed said he would be fighting for a people's vote

He said: "I'll be campaigning massively for remain because I think the best deal possible is the one that has served our country for the last 40 years."

Magid Magid, the Green Party winner, tweeted: "We did it.

"Today is about a Green wave cascading through Europe and landing on the shores of Yorkshire for the first time. We're just getting started."

Richard Corbett, who keeps his seat as a Labour MEP, said voters had sent a clear message that Brexit was still the main issue facing the public.

Analysis

by James Vincent, political editor, BBC Yorkshire

This was an election. But many treated it as a referendum.

The numbers will be added up by parties on either side to determine whether "the Brexit vote" is as strong in Yorkshire as it was in 2016.

But what we do know is that the Brexit Party dominated. Labour did have two MEPs, it now has one. The Conservatives lost both of theirs.

The Lib Dems and the Greens will look at their first MEPs here and say that it proves Remainers don't want the two main parties.

The Brexit Party will say exactly the same about Leavers.

Labour and the Conservatives have big problems telling people in Yorkshire what their Brexit plan is.

In Sheffield, Labour were beaten into fourth place and they weren't even the top choice in Doncaster, where the party was born.