SHAKES, BATTLES AND POLLS
European elections 2019 – Polls close as Nigel Farage set for huge victory and May and Corbyn face ‘annihilation’
THE polls have closed in the EU election they said we'd never have Nigel Farage's Brexit Party looks set to win big - while Labour and the Tories face "annihilation".
The £150million ballot ended at 10pm as Britons voted to elect a new set of MEPs, three years after the referendum to leave the EU.
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Mr Farage's barnstorming Brexit Party is set to top the polls - and he was jubilant at the voting station today before a single vote had even been counted.
He's set to cause a political earthquake yet again as his new venture storms ahead almost three years after the historic referendum result.
As he cast his own ballot he took aim at Mr Corbyn's party, saying: "Labour are in so much trouble here, you can't believe it."
Prime Minister Theresa May later broke cover to cast her own vote in Maidenhead alongside husband Philip.
Forecasters at Ipsos-MORI report that the Brexit Party would win the vote by a mile on a predicted 35 per cent ahead of the Lib Dems on 20 per cent, Labour on 15 per cent and the Tories behind the Greens on just 9.
That's some of the worst ever figures for a Governing party and even as voting began Tories were demanding the beleaguered PM quit.
Sources claimed the expected turnout to be above 40 per cent – historically high for a European Election and a boost for Nigel Farage.
The election watchdog said it was aware of reports that EU citizens had been unable to vote in the UK - and blamed the late notice from Mrs May's government that the poll would be going ahead.
This comes as a Brexiteer pensioner was doused with milkshake earlier outside a polling station - just days after Mr Farage was also drenched in another lactose-infused attack as he campaigned in Newcastle earlier this week.
Today the Brexit Party boss fumed: "Yet more disgusting behaviour. When democracy fails, civility ends. Let's get Brexit done and finish this."
An onlooker claimed the man, thought to be from Aldershot, was an army veteran too.
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Meanwhile Tories are warning of a complete wipe-out - with leaked WhatsApp messages revealing they fear losing ALL of their seats.
North West MEP Sajjad Karmin said the party would "live to regret" taking part in the polls.
He went on: "We will be annihilated, the Conservative party will be annihilated. It was pretty much a case of sending in the foot soldiers and then the generals abandoned the battlefield.
"It was quite clear those that were supposed to be backing us up on the battlefield all abandoned as well, and the candidates were all left there looking for where the next round of bullets was going to come from."
Others continued to call for Mrs May to go.
Loyalist Sir David Evennett tweeted this morning: "Theresa May must now resign. We need a new PM a new Cabinet and a new approach to Brexit."
But Tory Peer Lord Heseltine hit out at Brexiteers today, saying they were a "destructive force" in British politics.
The 86-year-old, who earlier this week had the whip suspended for saying he was going to vote Lib Dem today, insisted he would not quit the party and would "stay and fight".
He wrote in the Evening Standard: “Some of those who are now attempting to take control of our party are not real Conservatives at all but a destructive force damaging to both my party and our country.”
Pro-EU groups such as the Greens and Lib Dems are also set for a small boost too in today's polls as they sweep up votes from Brits who are fed up with Brexit.
They want to stop Brexit altogether with another referendum, but have been failing to gather enough support for it.
FULL GUIDE TO THE EUROPEAN ELECTIONS
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Why voters are flocking to Nigel Farage's Brexit Party
RESULTS EXPECTED SUNDAY
We won't know the results until late on Sunday, with some coming in on Monday morning.
Seventy three MEPs will be elected to represent the UK - using a complex form of proportional representation called the D'Hondt system.
It is different to the first-past-the-post system used in UK general elections, which sees MPs selected based on which candidate secures the most votes in a constituency.
In D'Hondt, voters rank their preferred candidates and an average is taken to determine the winners.
England is split into nine regions: South East England has 10 MEPs, London and North West England each have eight, East of England and the West Midlands each have seven.
Yorkshire and the Humber and South West England have six each, the East Midlands has five and North East England has three.
Scotland has six MEPs, Wales four and Northern Ireland three.
If we leave in the next few months, they might not even take up their seats.
VOTE SHOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED
Theresa May had vowed to usher the UK out of the European Union by March 29 - but our departure date has been pushed forward to as late as October 31 - meaning we have to take part in today's polls.
After MPs rejected her Brexit deal three times, she's been forced to spend £150million on holding them.
Mrs May had hoped cross-party Brexit talks would deliver a compromise deal in time to allow her to call off the European Parliament elections.
But, more than a month after the talks began, her de facto deputy David Lidington acknowledged time was too tight to get a Withdrawal Agreement Bill through both Houses of Parliament by the date of the poll.
Downing Street conceded on Wednesday that they expected a "very challenging night" when the results come through - and that was even before Andrea Leadsom quit the Government over the PM's new Brexit deal.
A spokesman said: "The PM is focused on the task at hand which is delivering the Brexit people voted for."
The PM finally came out of No10 this morning after holing herself in and refusing to speak to her own ministers last night.
She said she was "listening to colleagues" as ministers pulled the Withdrawal Bill from Commons business due to a lack of support.
And she replaced Ms Leadsom as Commons leader with Remainer Mel Stride.
Tomorrow she faces the chair of the 1922 committee, Sir Graham Brady, where it's rumoured she could finally quit.
WWII BOMB ALERT AT POLLING STATION
Meanwhile, a polling station had to be shut in Kingston after suspected World War II bombs were found nearby.
Specialist units shut down four roads in South West London, and the Ministry of Defence are assisting.
The Council was left scrambling to find another place for Londoners to vote.
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Sun explains how the European Elections work in the UK
MOST READ IN POLITICS
When Britain does finally leave the EU, the European Parliament will reduce from 751 MEPs to 705 - with 27 of the UK's 73 seats being distributed among the remaining member states.
The Netherlands also goes to the polls on Thursday - with the 26 other EU member states to follow over the next three days.
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Leader of the Party of European Socialists, Frans Timmermans says the Brexit division has left UK 'looking like Game of Thrones on steroids'
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