Lib Dems win 2 new MEPs for South West

The Liberal Democrats won two seats out of six in the South West region in the European Elections, counted on Sunday night.

Totnes based Caroline Voaden and former Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood were elected to represent SW England and Gibraltar with a 23% share of the vote.

Caroline and Martin are now two of 16 Liberal Democrat MEPs heading for Brussels - the biggest ever delegation of Lib Dem MEPs.

"I am so thrilled to be elected to represent the South West and Gibraltar tonight, and even more thrilled that Martin has also won a seat. Together we will do everything we can to represent the interests of all our communities in Brussels, from farmers to fishermen, research scientists to business owners," said Caroline.

"Never have we felt more strongly about how much our EU membership matters and we will do all we can to preserve it. We'd like to thank everyone who voted for us."

The rest of the six seats in the region were split between Molly Scott Cato for the Greens who was re-elected, and three Brexit Party candidates - Ann Widdecombe, James Glancy and Christina Jordan.

The Conservatives and Labour lost their MEPs.

Altogether the 'Remain' vote in this election, counted as the Lib Dem and Green vote, amounted to 41% of votes cast. The Brexit Party won 37% of the vote, the Conservatives 9% and Labour 6.5%.