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All 73 United Kingdom seats to the European Parliament | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Registered | 46,481,532 [n 1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 35.6% [1] 0.9% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Map of the 2014 European Parliamentary Election in the United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Part of a series of articles on |
UK membership of the European Union (1973–2020) |
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The 2014 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2014 European Parliament election, held on Thursday 22 May 2014, [2] [3] coinciding with the 2014 local elections in England [4] and Northern Ireland. In total, 73 Members of the European Parliament were elected from the United Kingdom using proportional representation. England, Scotland and Wales use a closed-list party list system of PR (with the D'Hondt method), while Northern Ireland used the single transferable vote (STV).
Most of the election results were announced after 10pm on Sunday 25 May – with the exception of Scotland, which did not declare its results until the following day – after voting closed throughout the 28 member states of the European Union.
The most successful party overall was the UK Independence Party (UKIP) which won 24 seats and 27% of the popular vote, the first time a political party other than the Labour Party or Conservative Party had won the popular vote at a British election since the 1906 general election. [5] [6] It was also the first time a party other than Labour or Conservative had won the largest number of seats in a national election since the December 1910 general election. [7] [8] [9] In addition, the 23.1% of the vote won by the Conservatives was the lowest recorded vote share for the party in a national election until 2019.
The Labour Party became the first Official Opposition party since 1984 to fail to win a European Parliament election, although it did gain 7 seats, taking its overall tally to 20. The governing Conservative Party was pushed into third place for the first time at any European Parliament election, falling to 19 seats, while the Green Party of England and Wales saw its number of MEPs increase for the first time since 1999, winning 3 seats. In Scotland, the Scottish National Party won the largest share of the vote, taking 29% of the vote and 2 MEPs. The Liberal Democrats, who were in government in the UK with the Conservatives at the time, lost 10 of the 11 seats they were defending, and won just 7% of the popular vote.
Figures released in December 2014 showed that the Conservatives and UKIP each spent £2.96m on the campaign, the Liberal Democrats £1.5m, and the Labour Party approximately £1m. [10]
The United Kingdom elected 73 Members of the European Parliament using proportional representation. The United Kingdom was divided into twelve multi-member constituencies. The eleven of these regions which form Great Britain used a closed-list party list system method of proportional representation, calculated using the D'Hondt method. Northern Ireland used the Single transferable vote (STV). As a result of the Treaty of Lisbon coming into force, the UK became entitled to a 73rd MEP as from November 2011. The Electoral Commission performed a reallocation in keeping with the same procedures it used to allocate 72 MEPs; an extra Conservative MEP was allocated to the West Midlands constituency, based on the 2009 vote, and was enshrined in the European Union Act 2011 as an amendment of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002.[ citation needed ]
Electoral region | 2009 election | 2014 election | +/- |
---|---|---|---|
East Midlands | 5 | 5 | |
East of England | 7 | 7 | |
London | 8 | 8 | |
North East England | 3 | 3 | |
North West England | 8 | 8 | |
South East England | 10 | 10 | |
South West England 1 | 6 | 6 | |
West Midlands | 6 | 7 | 1 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 6 | 6 | |
Wales | 4 | 4 | |
Scotland | 6 | 6 | |
Northern Ireland | 3 | 3 |
1 Includes Gibraltar, the only British Overseas Territory which was part of the European Union.
The European Parliamentary Elections (Returning Officers) Order 2013 provides for the designated Returning officer for each electoral region to be the council official responsible for elections in each of the following Westminster constituencies: Kettering for the East Midlands, Chelmsford for the Eastern region, Lewisham, Deptford for the London region, Sunderland Central for the North East region, Manchester Central for the North West region, Falkirk for Scotland, Southampton, Test for the South East region, Poole for the South West region, Preseli Pembrokeshire for Wales, Birmingham Ladywood for the West Midlands region, Leeds Central for the Yorkshire and Humber region, and Belfast South for the Northern Ireland Region. [11]
Between the 2009 and 2014 elections, there were various changes to the breakdown of UK members. In December 2011, a 73rd member from the UK (Anthea McIntyre, Conservative) was allocated to England because of the implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon. There were also various defections:
The Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force (UCUNF) electoral pact between the Conservatives and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) was dissolved.
Thus, before the 2014 election, the following parties had MEPs representing UK constituencies:
Parties in the European Parliament (UK) before the 2014 election Archived 3 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom party | Seats/73 | European Parliament group | Seats/766 | ||
Conservative | 26 | European Conservatives and Reformists | 52 | ||
UUP | 1 | ||||
Labour | 13 | Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats | 195 | ||
Liberal Democrats | 12 | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe | 75 | ||
UKIP | 9 | Europe of Freedom and Democracy | 31 | ||
Independent | 1 | ||||
Green | 2 | Greens–European Free Alliance | 52 | ||
Scottish National | 2 | ||||
Plaid Cymru | 1 | ||||
Sinn Féin | 1 | European United Left–Nordic Green Left | 35 | ||
Democratic Unionist | 1 | Non-Inscrits | – | ||
British Democratic | 1 | – | |||
British National | 1 | – | |||
We Demand a Referendum | 1 | – | |||
An Independence from Europe | 1 | – |
39 parties stood a total of 747 candidates. The Conservative Party and UKIP had candidates in every region, as did the three Green parties. Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the BNP had a full slate of candidates in all the regions in Great Britain (i.e. excluding Northern Ireland). The English Democrats and An Independence from Europe had a full slate of candidates in all the English regions. No2EU had a full slate in seven regions, while Britain First and the Socialist Party of Great Britain had full slates in two regions each. The Harmony Party stood in four regions and the Christian Peoples Alliance in three regions. Other parties only stood in one region.
(Elected in 2009 as British National Party)
On 20 February, the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg used his weekly phone-in show on LBC 97.3 to challenge the leader of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage, to a live public debate on the UK's membership of the European Union. [29] Clegg said, "he is the leader of the party of 'out'; I am the leader of the party of 'in'. I think it's time we now have a proper, public debate so that the public can listen to the two sides of the argument and judge from themselves." [30] [31] Farage accepted, but said he would also like to see Ed Miliband and David Cameron participate. [32]
The first hour-long debate between the two men was held on 26 March 2014 and was broadcast live on television by Sky News and on the BBC News Channel. The debate was hosted by LBC and moderated by Nick Ferrari. [33] After the first debate, a YouGov poll asked "Who performed better?", with 57% saying Farage did better compared to 36% for Clegg.
The second debate was held on BBC Two on 2 April in a special programme called The European Union: In or Out , moderated by David Dimbleby. Farage was again seen as outperforming his rival, with a snap poll by YouGov showing 68% of people thought he did better in the debate compared to 27% for Clegg. A snap Guardian poll also showed that 69% thought Farage won the debate. [34]
Despite David Cameron and Ed Miliband declining to participate in the leaders' debates, the Conservative and Labour parties were represented in a lower-profile debate on the BBC. On 13 February Andrew Neil hosted a four-way debate on the BBC's Sunday Politics programme. The Conservatives were represented by Syed Kamall MEP, Labour by Richard Howitt MEP, the Liberal Democrats by Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP and the UK Independence Party by Patrick O'Flynn, the party's Director of communications and an MEP candidate. [35] [36]
These opinion polls are for Great Britain and generally exclude Northern Ireland. The methodology used for these polls broadly corresponds to that used for opinion polling for the 2015 United Kingdom general election; see that article for the methodology used by each polling company. YouGov have experimented with different methods of polling for these elections, using their own method for their 8–9 January 2013 poll and another corresponding to that used by Survation and ComRes for their 10–11 January 2013 poll (both below) and argue that their method gives more accurate answers. [37] Data for these polls are generally gathered at the same time as the data for General Election polling.
Date(s) | Polling organisation/client | Sample | Con | UKIP | Lab | Lib Dems | Others | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
22 May 2014 | EU election, 2014 (GB) Results | 16,017,366 | 23.9% | 27.5% | 25.4% | 6.9% | 16.3% | 2.1% |
20–21 May | YouGov/The Sun | 6,124 | 22% | 27% | 26% | 9% | 16% BNP on 1% | 1% |
19–21 May | Opinium/Daily Mail | 1,967 | 21% | 32% | 25% | 6% | 16% | 7% |
19–20 May | Survation/Mirror | 1,106 | 23% | 32% | 27% | 9% | 11% | 5% |
19–20 May | YouGov/The Sun | 1,874 | 23% | 27% | 27% | 10% | 14% BNP on 1% | Tied |
18–19 May | YouGov/The Sun | 1,740 | 21% | 24% | 28% | 10% | 17% BNP on 1% | 4% |
15–19 May | TNS Archived 4 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine | 1,217 | 21% | 31% | 28% | 7% | 13% | 3% |
16–18 May | ComRes [ permanent dead link ] | 2,061 | 20% | 33% | 27% | 7% | 13% | 6% |
15–16 May | YouGov/Sunday Times | 1,892 | 23% | 26% | 27% | 9% | 14% | 1% |
13–16 May | Opinium/Daily Mail | 2,036 | 20% | 31% | 29% | 5% | 15% | 2% |
14–15 May | ICM/Sunday Telegraph | 2,033 | 26% | 25% | 29% | 7% | 13% | 3% |
14–15 May | ComRes | 2,045 | 20% | 35% | 24% | 6% | 15% | 11% |
13–14 May | YouGov/The Sun | 1,968 | 22% | 25% | 28% | 10% | 15% BNP on 0% | 3% |
9–12 May | Opinium | 1,936 | 22% | 30% | 28% | 7% | 13% | 2% |
9–11 May | ICM/The Guardian | 1,000 | 27% | 26% | 24% | 7% | 16% | 1% |
9–11 May | ComRes/C4M | 2,056 | 22% | 34% | 24% | 8% | 12% | 10% |
9 May | Survation/Mail on Sunday | 1,005 | 21% | 32% | 28% | 9% | 11% | 4% |
6–8 May | Opinium/Daily Mail | 1,972 | 23% | 28% | 27% | 8% | 14% | 1% |
28 Apr – 6 May | YouGov/Sky News | 1,933 | 23% | 31% | 25% | 9% | 14% | 6% |
2–3 May | Survation/Mirror | 1,005 | 24% | 31% | 28% | 7% | 10% | 3% |
1–2 May | YouGov/Sunday Times | 1,945 | 22% | 29% | 28% | 7% | 14% | 1% |
30 Apr – 1 May | YouGov/Sun on Sunday | 1,844 | 23% | 29% | 26% | 10% | 12% | 3% |
30 Apr – 1 May | YouGov/The Sun | 1,813 | 22% | 27% | 30% | 9% | 13% BNP on 1% | 3% |
27–30 Apr | YouGov/The Sun | 5,331 | 22% | 28% | 29% | 9% | 13% BNP on 1% | 1% |
24–28 Apr | TNS Archived 28 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine | 1,199 | 18% | 36% | 27% | 10% | 12% | 9% |
25–27 Apr | ComRes [ permanent dead link ] | 2,052 | 18% | 38% | 27% | 8% | 14% | 11% |
24–25 Apr | YouGov/Sunday Times | 1,835 | 19% | 31% | 28% | 9% | 13% | 3% |
21–22 Apr | YouGov/The Sun | 2,190 | 22% | 27% | 30% | 10% | 11% BNP on 1% | 3% |
15–17 Apr | ICM/Sunday Telegraph | 2,000 | 22% | 27% | 30% | 8% | 13% | 3% |
11–13 Apr | ICM/The Guardian | 1,000 | 25% | 20% | 36% | 6% | 13% | 11% |
3–7 Apr | TNS Archived 13 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine | 1,193 | 21% | 29% | 30% | 9% | 11% | 1% |
4–6 Apr | Populus/Financial Times | 2,034 | 27% | 25% | 31% | 10% | 7% | 4% |
3–4 Apr | YouGov/Sunday Times | 1,998 | 22% | 28% | 30% | 9% | 10% | 2% |
4 Apr | Survation/Mail on Sunday | 1,001 | 21% | 27% | 34% | 9% | 9% | 7% |
2–3 Apr | ComRes/The People | 2,067 | 22% | 30% | 30% | 8% | 10% | Tied |
2 Apr | Broadcast of The European Union: In or Out debate. | |||||||
27–28 Mar | YouGov/The Sunday Times | 1,916 | 24% | 23% | 32% | 11% | 10% | 8% |
26–27 Mar | YouGov/The Sun | 2,039 | 24% | 26% | 28% | 11% | 11% | 2% |
26 Mar | LBC radio debate on the European Union between the Lib Dems' Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage of UKIP. | |||||||
20–21 Mar | Survation/Mail on Sunday | 1,000 | 28% | 23% | 32% | 7% | 10% | 4% |
17–18 Mar | YouGov/Times | 2,284 | 24% | 23% | 32% | 10% | 11% | 8% |
12–13 Mar | ComRes/Independent on Sunday | 2,001 | 21% | 30% | 28% | 8% | 13% | 2% |
7–9 Feb | ICM/The Guardian | 1,002 | 25% | 20% | 35% | 9% | 11% | 10% |
14–15 Jan | YouGov/The Sun | 1,893 | 23% | 26% | 32% | 9% | 10% | 6% |
3 Jan | Survation/Mail on Sunday | 1,001 | 23% | 26% | 32% | 9% | 10% | 6% |
Date(s) | Polling organisation/client | Sample | Con | UKIP | Lab | Lib Dems | Others | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
21–22 Nov | Survation/Daily Star | 1,006 | 24% | 25% | 32% | 8% | 12% | 7% |
11 Oct | Survation/Mail on Sunday | 1,017 | 21% | 22% | 35% | 11% | 11% | 13% |
22–24 May | ComRes/Open Europe | 2,003 | 21% | 27% | 23% | 18% | 11% | 4% |
17–18 May | Survation/Mail on Sunday | 1,000 | 20% | 30% | 31% | 8% | 11% | 1% |
17–18 Jan | YouGov/The Sun | 1,912 | 30% | 12% | 38% | 13% | 10% | 8% |
10–11 Jan | YouGov/The Sun | 1,995 | 24% | 19% | 36% | 12% | 10% | 12% |
9–10 Jan | ComRes/Sunday People | 2,002 | 22% | 23% | 35% | 8% | 12% | 12% |
8–9 Jan | YouGov/The Sun | 1,980 | 27% | 17% | 38% | 12% | 6% | 11% |
5 Jan | Survation/Mail on Sunday | 772 | 24% | 22% | 31% | 11% | 12% | 7% |
4 Jun 2009 | EU election, 2009 (GB) Results | 15,136,932 | 27.7% | 16.5% | 15.7% | 13.7% | 25.6% | 11.2% |
Date(s) | Polling organisation/client | Sample | SNP | Lab | Con | Lib Dems | UKIP | Others | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
22 May 2014 | EU election, 2014 (Scotland) | 1,343,483 | 29.0% | 25.9% | 17.2% | 7.1% | 10.5% | 10.4% | 3.1% |
12–15 May 2014 | ICM/Scotsman | 1,003 | 36% | 27% | 13% | 7% | 9% | 8% | 9% |
9–12 May 2014 | Survation/Daily Record | 1,003 | 37% | 26% | 13% | 6% | 11% | 7% | 11% |
11–22 Apr 2014 | YouGov/Edinburgh University | 1,014 | 33% | 31% | 12% | 7% | 10% | 7% | 2% |
14–16 Apr 2014 | ICM/Scotland on Sunday | 1,004 | 37% | 28% | 11% | 7% | 10% | 6% | 9% |
4–7 Apr 2014 | Survation/Daily Record | 1,002 | 39% | 30% | 14% | 6% | 7% | 5% | 9% |
17–21 Mar 2014 | ICM/Scotsman | 1,010 | 41% | 29% | 13% | 5% | 6% | 6% | 12% |
21–24 Jan 2014 | ICM/Scotsman | 1,010 | 43% | 24% | 14% | 6% | 7% | 6% | 19% |
4 Jun 2009 | EU election, 2009 (Scotland) | 1,104,512 | 29.1% | 20.8% | 16.8% | 11.5% | 5.2% | 16.6% | 8.3% |
Date(s) | Polling organisation/client | Sample | Con | Lab | Plaid | UKIP | Lib Dems | Others | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
22 May 2014 | EU election, 2014 (Wales) Results | 733,060 | 17.4% | 28.2% | 15.3% | 27.6% | 4.0% | 7.7% | 0.6% |
12–14 May 2014 | YouGov/ITV | 1,092 | 16% | 33% | 15% | 23% | 7% | 7% | 10% |
11–22 Apr 2014 | YouGov/Cardiff University | 1,027 | 18% | 39% | 11% | 20% | 7% | 6% | 19% |
10–12 Feb 2014 | YouGov/ITV | 1,250 | 17% | 39% | 12% | 18% | 7% | 7% | 21% |
2–4 Dec 2013 | YouGov/ITV | 1,001 | 20% | 41% | 13% | 13% | 8% | 5% | 21% |
4 Jun 2009 | EU election, 2009 (Wales) Results | 684,520 | 21.2% | 20.3% | 18.5% | 12.8% | 10.7% | 16.6% | 0.9% |
Date(s) | Polling organisation/client | Sample | Con | Lab | Lib Dems | Green | UKIP | Others | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
22 May 2014 | EU election, 2014 (London) Results | 2,200,475 | 22.5% | 36.7% | 6.7% | 8.9% | 16.9% | 8.3% | 14.2% |
6–8 May 2014 | YouGov/Evening Standard | 1,422 | 23% | 37% | 9% | 7% | 21% | 3% | 14% |
28–29 Apr 2014 | Survation | 1,001 | 21% | 39% | 13% | 7% | 20% | 1% | 18% |
7–9 Apr 2014 | YouGov/Evening Standard | 1,209 | 25% | 33% | 11% | 5% | 24% | 3% | 8% |
8–10 Oct 2013 | YouGov/Evening Standard | 1,231 | 23% | 34% | 10% | 9% | 22% | 1% | 11% |
4 Jun 2009 | EU election, 2009 (London) Results | 1,751,026 | 27.4% | 21.3% | 13.7% | 10.9% | 10.8% | 15.9% | 6.1% |
Party | Votes | Seats | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | % | +/- | Seats | +/- | % | |||||
UK Independence Party | 4,376,635 | 26.6 | 10.6 | 24 | 11 | 32.9 | ||||
Labour Party | 4,020,646 | 24.4 | 9.2 | 20 | 7 | 27.4 | ||||
Conservative Party | 3,792,549 | 23.1 | 3.8 | 19 | 7 | 26.0 | ||||
Green Party of England and Wales | 1,136,670 | 6.9 | 0.9 | 3 | 1 | 4.1 | ||||
Liberal Democrats | 1,087,633 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 1 | 10 | 1.4 | ||||
Scottish National Party | 389,503 | 2.4 | 0.3 | 2 | 2.7 | |||||
An Independence from Europe | 235,124 | 1.4 | New | 0 | ||||||
British National Party | 179,694 | 1.1 | 5.0 | 0 | 2 | |||||
Sinn Féin | 159,813 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1 | 1.4 | |||||
DUP | 131,163 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1 | 1.4 | |||||
English Democrats | 126,024 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0 | ||||||
Plaid Cymru | 111,864 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 1 | 1.4 | |||||
Scottish Greens | 108,305 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0 | ||||||
Ulster Unionist Party | 83,438 | 0.5 | New | 1 | 1 | 1.4 | ||||
SDLP | 81,594 | 0.5 | 0 | |||||||
TUV | 75,806 | 0.5 | 0 | |||||||
Christian Peoples Alliance | 50,222 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 0 | ||||||
Alliance | 44,432 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0 | ||||||
No2EU | 31,757 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0 | ||||||
4 Freedoms Party (UK EPP) | 28,014 | 0.2 | New | 0 | ||||||
We Demand a Referendum Now | 23,426 | 0.1 | New | 0 | ||||||
NHA | 23,253 | 0.1 | New | 0 | ||||||
Animal Welfare Party | 21,092 | 0.1 | 0 | |||||||
Britain First | 20,272 | 0.1 | New | 0 | ||||||
Yorkshire First | 19,017 | 0.1 | New | 0 | ||||||
Europeans Party | 10,712 | 0.1 | New | 0 | ||||||
Green (NI) | 10,598 | 0.1 | 0 | |||||||
NI21 | 10,553 | 0.1 | New | 0 | ||||||
Peace Party | 10,130 | 0.1 | 0 | |||||||
Others | 55,011 | 0.3 | 3.4 | 0 | ||||||
Valid Votes | 16,454,950 | 99.5 | 73 | 1 | ||||||
Rejected Votes | 90,812 | 0.6 | ||||||||
Registered voters | 46,481,532 | |||||||||
Conservative
Liberal Democrats
British National Party
An Independence from Europe
We Demand a Referendum
The UK Independence Party (UKIP) came top of the poll, the first time a political party other than the Labour Party or Conservative Party had won the popular vote at a British election since the 1906 general election. [39] [6] It was also the first time a party other than Labour or Conservative had won the largest number of seats in a national election since the December 1910 general election. [7] [8] [9] However, by the end of 2018, following multiple departures and other changes, only 9 MEPs remained affiliated to UKIP. [40] By February 2019, there were only 7 UKIP MEPs, while 7 former UKIP MEPs had joined the new Brexit Party.
The Labour Party became the first Official Opposition party since 1984 to fail to win a European Parliament election, although it did gain 7 seats, taking its overall tally to 20. It concurrently won the largest share of the vote in 100 council areas, with its largest vote share recorded in Newham at 58.4%. [41]
The governing Conservative Party was pushed into third place for the first time at any European Parliament election, winning just 23.3% of the national vote share and losing 7 seats to fall to 19 overall, one behind Labour. It won the largest share of the vote in just 89 council areas and its highest vote was recorded in Elmbridge at 43.1%.
The Green Party of England and Wales saw its number of MEPs increase for the first time since 1999, winning a total of 3 seats. The party rose from fifth place to fourth, although its vote share declined slightly compared to 2009. This was the first time since 1989 that the Greens had outpolled the Liberal Democrats in a European election.
In Scotland, the Scottish National Party won the largest share of the vote taking 28.9% of the vote and retained its two of the six Scottish seats. [42]
The Liberal Democrats, who were in coalition with the Conservatives at the time, lost ten of the eleven seats they were defending and won just 6.9% of the vote share nationally. [43] Their highest vote share was recorded in Gibraltar, where they won a 67.2% share of the vote.
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Diane Martine James is a British politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 2014 to 2019. She was briefly leader-elect of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from September 2016 to October 2016, but resigned before formalising her leadership. At the time of her election to the European Parliament, James was one of three UKIP MEPs for South East England, before joining the Brexit Party in 2019.
Independence from Europe was a minor, Eurosceptic political party in the United Kingdom. The party was first registered in June 2012 but remained inactive until it was launched in October 2013 by sole party leader Mike Nattrass, a disaffected member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP). It had no official political representation at the time of its dissolution in November 2017, but previously had one Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and three Councillors, all of whom were once members of UKIP.
On 5 June 2014, a by-election was held for the UK parliamentary constituency of Newark, following the resignation of Patrick Mercer. Conservative Robert Jenrick won the seat with a majority of 7,403.
The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 to elect 650 members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by prime minister David Cameron, won a unexpected majority victory of ten seats; they had been leading a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. It was the last general election to be held before the UK voted to leave the European Union (EU) in June 2016.
The 2015 United Kingdom general election debates were a series of four live television programmes featuring the leaders of seven main British parties that took place during the run-up to the general election. They each featured different formats and participants.
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. This was the United Kingdom's final participation in a European Parliament election before leaving the European Union on 31 January 2020; it 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, and was the first European election in the United Kingdom since 1999 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections. This was the first of two national elections held in the United Kingdom in 2019; the 2019 general election occurred six-and-a-half months later in December 2019.
Nigel Farage is a British MP for Clacton and former MEP for South East England who has stood as a candidate representing eurosceptic parties UK Independence Party (UKIP) and Reform UK since 1994. He was a Member of the European Parliament representing South East England from the 1999 election until the British withdrawal from the European Union in 2020, winning re-election four times. Farage has stood for election to the House of Commons eight times, in six general elections and two by-elections, losing in every attempt until 2024 in Clacton. He was also a proponent of the UK leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, in which the electorate voted to do so by 52% to 48%.
Reform UK, colloquially known as Reform, is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has served as the party's leader since June 2024 and Richard Tice has served as the party's deputy leader since July 2024. The party currently has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one member of the London Assembly. The party also holds representation at the local government level, with most of its local councillors having defected from the Conservative Party to Reform UK. Following Farage's resumption of the leadership during the 2024 general election, there was a sharp increase in support for the party. In the election it was the third largest party by popular vote, with 14.3 per cent of the vote.
The 2019 European Parliament election for the election of the delegation from the United Kingdom was held on 23 May 2019. These were the last elections to the European Parliament to be held before Brexit.