The Conservative Party slipped to fifth place in the UK results with 9.1 per cent of the vote and just four MEPs – down from 15 from the last European elections in 2014. Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party scored a resounding victory, with 29 MEPs and 32 percent of the vote, becoming the largest party in nine of the 12 regions in the UK. The Liberal Democrats followed in second with 16 MEPs and a fifth of the vote. Labour also endured a disastrous night, with the number of MEPs halving to 10, and their vote share falling to 14.1 percent.
UK election 2019 polls tracker: Who would win if a snap election was called NOW?
The Green Party also finished ahead of the Tories, winning seven MEPs – up from four in 2014 – and 12 percent of the vote.
But despite the disastrous result for Theresa May and her Conservative Party, the majority of readers voting in the latest Express.co.uk poll do not want the Prime Minister to call a snap general election.
The poll, run from 1pm until 10pm on Monday May 27, saw 61 percent of the 11,706 readers who cast their vote opposing such a move.
Less than four in 10 (37 percent) were in favour of Mrs May calling a snap general election, with two percent unsure.
One Express.co.uk reader said: “Calling a snap election would destroy the Tory Party.”
Another commented: “We’ll have a general election in November when the Tories fail to deliver Brexit, and when the Brexit Party is fully in position to fight the general election.”
A buoyant Mr Farage has threatened to unleash the Brexit Party at the next general election if the Tories fail to deliver on Brexit.
He said: “If we don’t leave on October 31 then the scores you have seen for the Brexit Party today will be repeated in a general election, and we are getting ready for it.”
Mr Farage, who was re-elected as an MEP in the South East, also warned his his Brexit Party could “stun everybody” if Britain fails to leave the EU by the next national poll.
The Brexit Party leader said: “We’re getting ready. Listen, I’m off to the office now, we’ve got 650 candidates to interview, vet.
“And we’re not just here to leave the European Union but to try and fundamentally change the shape of British politics, bring it into the 21st century and get a Parliament that better reflects the country.”
Despite Labour’s humiliation in the European elections, Jeremy Corbyn immediately called for a general election.
He said: “The priority at the moment, I think, is for this Government to call for a general election and actually have a general election so we can decide the future.
“There’s no majority in Parliament, there’s no legislative programme and Parliament has basically been given nothing to do by the Government.
“I think that is a demand that should be made and made as strongly as possible.”
The crushing defeat in the European elections has piled even more pressure on the Conservatives and Mrs May, who on Friday announced she would be resigning as Prime Minister.
She will step down as Conservative leader on June 7, sparking a huge race among prominent figures in her own party for the top job.
Boris Johnson is the bookies’ favourite to be the next Prime Minister, while several others including Jeremy Hunt, Dominic Raab, Michael Gove, Sajid Javid and Esther McVey have all publicly announced their intentions to join the leadership race.
