Main parties caned as Brexit Party triumphs
THE European elections saw national trends mirrored in Cheshire East - with the Brexit Party clear winners and the major parties given a caning.
Nigel Farage’s newlyformed party claimed 34.2 per cent of the vote in the borough with the Tories and Labour trailing well behind with 11.3 and 9.1 per cent respectively.
Macclesfield and Cheshire East are part of the North West and votes across the region mean of its eight Euro MP three are from the Brexit Party, two Labour, two Liberal Democrat and one Green.
The Liberal Democrats also saw a resurgence in Cheshire East - with 23.0 per cent of the vote, the second largest share - and the Greens secured 13.3 per cent.
Andrew Haldane, chairman of Macclesfield Liberal Democrats, said: “While the hard right has gained ground in some countries progressive forces have prevailed in most places.
“The Brexit party may have the biggest vote for a single party but onethird of the vote does not
and should not give them the right to dictate to the rest of us.
“We believe that most of those who could not bring themselves to desert Labour are Remain supporters and we hope their party will now join with us to stop Brexit.”
A total of 107,201 votes were cast in Cheshire East.
Nigel Farage, leader of the Brexit Party said: “Never before in British politics has a new party launched just six weeks ago topped the polls in a national election.
“The reason of course is very obvious, we voted to leave in a referendum, we were supposed to do so on March 29 and we haven’t. There’s a huge message here.”
Gina Dowding, the newly-elected Green party MEP, said: “It’s absolutely clear that people want change - and they have voted for positive change by electing a Green MEP: yes to staying in the EU, but also for action on the climate emergency. It’s clear to me that people know they can trust the Greens on our policies.”
Re-elected Labour MEP Theresa Griffin said: “What we cannot have for my region is a no deal. Who would suffer the most?
“Low paid, part time, women workers. People, our people, that the Brexit Party don’t care about and probably don’t even know exist.”
Shortly before the result was announced, defeated Tory MEP Sajjid Karim tweeted: “Serving the north west and UK in EU for the last 15 years has been a tremendous honour, privilege and pleasure - much much more than what a working class lad from Lancashire could ever have hoped for. Thank you for this opportunity.”
The eight North West MEPs are:
Brexit Party: Claire Regina Fox, Henrik Eyser Overgaard Nielsen, David Richard Bull.
Labour Party: Theresa Mary Griffin , Julie Carolyn Ward.
Liberal Democrats: Chris Davies, Jane Elisabeth Brophy.
Green Party: Dowding.
The national Gina vote
HOW YOU VOTED
Brexit Party ..................................36,701 (34.2pc) Liberal Democrats .......................24,633 (23.0pc) Green ...........................................14,230 (13.3pc) Conservative ...............................12,142 (11.3pc) Labour ............................................9,807 (9.1pc) Change UK ......................................3,944 (3.7pc) UKIP ................................................3,373 (3.1pc) Tommy Robinson ............................1,176 (1.1pc) English Democrats .............................629 (0.6pc) UKEUP ................................................474 (0.4pc) Mohammad Aslam ...............................92 (0.1pc) share was Brexit Party 31.6pc, Liberal Democrats 20.3, Labour 14.1, Greens 12.1, Conservative 9.1.
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