
Nigel Farage today angrily dismissed 'absolute tosh' claims that Remain parties came out on top in the European elections.

The Brexit Party leader raged that pro-EU politicians were just 'moaning about every single election which they lose'.

The furious rebuke came after some Remainers argued that adding up the votes for anti-Brexit parties could be taken as an indication that the public did not want to leave the EU.

Former No10 spin doctor Alastair Campbell was among those trying to push the interpretation today, insisting it showed why there must be another referendum.

The Brexit Party romped home in the elections today, raking in 31.6 per cent of the vote despite being formed only six weeks ago. The Lib Dems were a distant second on 20.3 per cent, ahead of Labour on 14.1 per cent, the Greens on 12.1 per cent and the Tories, who came fifth with a dismal 9.1 per cent.

Presenter Charlotte Hawkins challenged Mr Farage about the argument as he appeared on ITV's GMB programme, saying: 'If you add up all the pro-Remain parties they did get a bigger percentage - 35.8 per cent versus the Brexit party 31.6 per cent. So the pro-Remain parties altogether did get a bigger percentage.'

But a clearly livid Mr Farage - who will be leading the joint largest party in the European Parliament when MEPs take up their seats in July - shot back by pointing out the obvious flaw in the argument, underlining that the results can be portrayed in various different ways to make political capital.

'I'm sorry this is absolute tosh, he said. 'It is not a fact.'

Presenter Charlotte Hawkins (pictured centre) challenged Nigel Farage (right) about the idea that Remain parties won the elections as he appeared on ITV's GMB programme

Former No10 spin doctor Alastair Campbell was among the Remain supporters insisting Brexiteers had actually lost the elections today

Mr Farage gave his own interpretation of the results as he tackled the claims that were being circulated by Remainers on social media today

The Brexit Party have topped polls in every country or region apart from London. London was won by the Liberal Democrats

The Brexit Party won the vast majority of council areas in England and Wales last night. This map shows the largest party in each area

What will the Tory leadership candidates do to deliver Brexit as Farage calls the shots? Boris Johnson: Brexiteer who backs a deal but will leave without a deal if required. Writing in the Daily Telegraph today the ex-foreign secretary said: 'No one sensible would aim exclusively for a no-deal outcome. No one responsible would take no-deal off the table.' Dominic Raab: Brexiteer who wants the current deal with Brussels renegotiated but believes the UK should leave on October 31 'at the latest' with or without a deal, saying: 'I believe that I have the plan to ensure we can leave the EU by the end of October'. Andrea Leadsom: Brexiteer who told the Guardian we must be 'prepared to leave without a deal' but has a 'three-point plan for Brexit, for how we get out of the European Union'. Rory Stewart: Remainer who says he could not work for a PM who backed a No Deal Brexit. Described it as 'damaging, unnecessary' and 'a huge mistake'. Michael Gove: Brexiteer who favours a deal. He told the BBC at the weekend that 'we would be able to get through it' but added: 'It's ultimately better for all of us if we secure a deal with the EU and leave in an orderly way'. Matt Hancock: Remainer who backs a deal. He told Sky News that leaving the European Union without an agreement is 'not an active policy choice that is available to the next prime minister', in jibe at Boris Johnson. Jeremy Hunt: Remainer turned Brexiteer whose views on No Desal have varied. last year he said it would be 'a mistake we would regret for generations' before later insisting the UK would 'would survive and prosper' if it left unilaterally. Esther McVey: Ruled out a futher Brexit extension. Todya she said: 'People saying we need a Brexit policy to bring people together are misreading the situation. We need to deliver on the referendum result with a clean break and then we bring people together by how we govern the country outside the EU.' Sajid Javid: Remainer Home Secretary who accepts that Brexit has to happen. He said today: 'First and foremost, we must deliver Brexit.' Advertisement

Mr Farage said: 'Add up the Brexit vote, add up the Ukip vote.. add the Conservative vote, who are still a party that says we are going to leave, and you will find that Leave beat Remain.

'In fact what you will find is that overall the country is 52-48 in favour of leaving.'

He added: 'We are supposed to be a democracy. We were promised this would be implemented.'

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas was among the Remainers to insist Mr Farage was wrong to say Leave had won the election.

She told the Today programme: 'I don't think that's right, I think the Brexit Party got about 35 per cent of the vote and the strongly Remain parties got about 40 per cent of the vote.

'So either way you look at it the Brexit Party has got nothing like the 17 million they had before.

'The point is let's just try and rule out the kind of terrifying vision for this country of no deal, that literally should go.'

Labour MEP Richard Corbett also weighed in, jibing that the number of Remainer party MEPs returned in the poll was actually higher than five years ago at 37.

He added the Brexit Party and Conservatives together to claim that Eurosceptics only had 33 MEPs - fewer than last time - saying: 'Clear swing from Leave to Remain!'

However, the maths only works as Mr Corbett classed Labour as a Remain party - whereas actually the leadership has been insisting it will deliver on the 2016 Brexit vote.

Senior Labour MP Hilary Benn stated that the election result was a clear rejection of No Deal Brexit.

WHAT ARE THE KEY DATES FOR BREXIT NOW - AND CAN A NEW DEAL BE AGREED BY OCTOBER 31? There might be five months left until the next deadline for the UK to leave the EU, but in fact time is short to prepare the ground for it to happen. The new Tory leader is unlikely to be in place before the end of July. And then they will have just two months - including August, when much of the continent downs tools - to overhaul the Brexit deal Theresa May thrashed out with Brussels. Success in this process would still mean a frantic race against time to pass legislation through Parliament in October. Here are the key dates in the process: June 7 - Theresa May formally steps down June 10 - Tory leadership contest begins The battle to succeed Mrs May as Tory leader should formally kick off early in June. Nominations to stand will close in the week beginning June 10 before it is put to several rounds of votes. The final two candidates are then offered to the Tory membership at large for an election. It could take two to six weeks for MPs to whittle down the leadership contenders From 24 June - Top Two Tory candidates are offered to Tory members Once Tory MPs have whittled the leadership contenders down to the top two in a series of votes - the lucky two will be be put to a vote by Conservative Party members. July 26 - New Tory leader selected and becomes PM The Tory party hierarchy has said it wants a new Tory party leader to be selected by the Parliamentary recess - which is likely to be on July 26. The new leader will become Prime Minister and form a government.

September 29-October 2 - Conservative Party conference The Tory gathering in Manchester this autumn will be the natural time for a new leader to take the stage and try to unite the fractured party. Assuming no way has been found to force a Withdrawal Agreement through Parliament by this point, they will need to spell out how they intend to approach the Brexit process. October 31 - Britain leaves the EU? The Brexit extension Mrs May thrashed out with the EU expires on October 31. Unless another postponement can be agreed, the UK is still scheduled to leave the bloc at this point. Advertisement

'Tonight the Brexit Party wasn't supported by around two-thirds of voters and No Deal was rejected,' he tweeted.

'The country remains divided. The only way to resolve this is to go back to the British people in a confirmatory referendum. Labour must now back this policy clearly.'

Meanwhile, Brexit Party supporters have lashed out at the overnight BBC election coverage, claiming it was 'biased' and downplayed Mr Farage's triumph at the polls.

The corporation faced fury for emphasising the strong performance of the Remain-supporting Greens and Liberal Democrats rather than focusing on Mr Farage's victory.

BBC presenters were also taken to task for allowing former Mr Campbell to grill another guest over the Brexit Party's finances.

During the programme Mr Campbell admitted he had voted for the Lib Dems in the election - something that could trigger his expulsion from Labour.

He said it had been the first time in his life that he had not voted for the Labour Party, launching a blistering attack warning its 'policy of riding two horses has failed'.

The results of the Euro elections have plunged both the Tories and Labour deeper into crisis, as they tear themselves to pieces over their Brexit policies.

Candidates to take over from Theresa May - who announced her departure on Friday - have been competing to sound more hawkish about the need to get the UK out of the EU by the end of October.

Top Tories today demanded Brexit be completed as soon as possible to avoid a catastrophe for the party after it was utterly humiliated by voters who subjected it to its worst ever election defeat.

As Sajid Javid became the ninth MP to join the Tory leadership race as candidates vying to replace Theresa May broke cover to warn of a Conservative collapse as the party finished fifth on nine per cent behind the Greens.

After Mr Farage gobbled up votes to come top in the contest and consign the Conservatives to the worst result in their history, leadership favourite Boris Johnson delivered a stark message that they must listen to the 'millions who voted for change'.

The leadership front runner said the rout last night in the polls after months of chaos and bitter infighting will become a 'permanent haemorrhage' of voter support unless the party takes dramatic action to win back furious Brexiteers.

The Prime Minister said the European elections were a 'very disappointing night' for the Tories, adding that: 'It shows the importance of finding a Brexit deal, and I sincerely hope these results focus minds in Parliament.'

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is also hoping to succeed Theresa May, said the Tories were looking at an 'existential risk' unless they found a way to break the impasse.

Some viewers of the BBC's election broadcast took aim at former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell (pictured) over his comments about the Brexit Party

Labour MEP Richard Corbett also weighed in, jibing that the number of Remainer party MEPs returned in the poll was actually higher than five years ago at 37

Labour tears itself apart over a new referendum as frontbenchers line up to demand a new poll Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party was engulfed by a bitter Brexit civil war over a second referendum today after a brutal night in the European elections saw it humiliated. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell and shadow home secretary Diane Abbott both spoke out publicly in support of a 'public vote' after it slump to a predicted third behind the Brexit Party and the resurgent Liberal Democrats. Labour is well behind Nigel Farage's Brexit Party and the Lib Dems. Even in Mr Corbyn's Islington back yard Labour only managed to come second. It is being consumed by an acrimonious split between MPs in Remain-supporting areas and those in Leave seats who fear a backlash at the next general election. After the result Mr McDonnell said Labour could unite the party and country by 'taking (the) issue back to people in a public vote' and Ms Abbott said that the party had been damaged by not having a 'clearer line' on the issue. Foreign secretary Emily Thornberry was among those to blast the party's 'unclear' strategy and demand a second referendum after Labour's thrashing. Ms Thornberry warned were 'getting a good kicking' as the unashamedly pro-Remain Lib Dems ate into the Labour vote. Deputy leader Tom Watson demanded an 'urgent' change of direction, warning that it will soon be too late to stop the UK from crashing out of the EU without a deal. And shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said that the public should be offered a choice between 'a credible leave option and remain'. But shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon - a key Corbyn lieutenant - insisted Labour had the right approach in seeking to appeal to both Leavers and Remainers despite its failures. It came after Mr Corbyn himself has said 'this issue will have to go back to the people' as the shadow Cabinet turned on him - although he again dodged stating whether there should be a general election or a single-issue vote. Advertisement

Andrea Leadsom, who quit last week over Theresa May's later-abandoned Brexit deal, said the nation 'should never have been fighting these elections' and said she had a 'three-step plan' to deliver Brexit.

And another hardline Brexiteer, Dominic Raab, said voters had delivered a message that 'unless we get on and actually leave the EU they will rightly kick us out at the next election'.

Mr Javid announced he was joining the leadership race today, saying: 'First and foremost, we must deliver Brexit.'

A jubilant Mr Farage demanded a role in the next round of negotiations with the EU, threatening to contest a general election.

He said he would be willing to support a Conservative leader who promises to take Britain out of the EU with No Deal.

'If we don't leave in October the Brexit party will go on to a general election,' Mr Javid said.

'We are happy to help any leader who is genuine about us leaving the EU. We would like to be part of the negotiating team, use us and give us some responsibility, but they need to be prepared to leave with a clean break Brexit. Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab, Michael Gove - all of them voted for Mrs May's European treaty.

'It's all about establishing trust – if the next leader says the same thing then no one is going to trust them.'

'This is just the beginning of a new political movement.'

Brexiteer leadership outsider Esther McVey went further that the other candidates, saying that Brexit should happen before any attempt to heal the party and the nation.

'People saying we need a Brexit policy to bring people together are misreading the situation,' she said on Twitter.

'That is clearly not possible.

'We need to deliver on the referendum result with a clean break and then we bring people together by how we govern the country outside the EU.'

But Matt Hancock said the party needed to win back voters who defected to the 'Brexit Party and Lib Dems', saying: 'We must deliver Brexit, before an election. Then focus on the future: higher pay not higher taxes: that's how we win elections - and we can do so again.'

Election guru Sir John Curtice said that the result meant that the next Tory leader faced a 'conundrum', saying: 'So many Conservative Leave voters have switched to the Brexit Party - many of whom we should remember voted for Ukip in 2014 and/or in 2015.

'They switched to the Conservatives in 2017 because they thought Theresa May would deliver.

'Now that she hasn't delivered it seems to me 'once bitten, twice shy' and they will probably wish to see the UK leaving the European Union before many of them will be willing to go back again.'

Mr Farage held a photo call with the rest of the new Brexit Party MEPs in central London this afternoon - including former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe (right)

Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn is desperately trying to keep a lid on a Labour civil war over whether to back a second referendum that could cancel the Brexit process altogether.

In a sign of how embarrassing the results were for Labour, the Lib Dems topped the poll in Islington, in north London - where both Mr Corbyn and Ms Thornberry are MPs.

In his first comments since the election result, Mr Corbyn told the BBC his priority has not changed.

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.'

Mr Corbyn did not rule out another referendum, saying any Brexit deal should be put back to the people and that the UK should not be allowed to 'crash out' with no deal.

Mr Corbyn's position appeared to be in conflict with Sir Keir Starmer, who said the public should be given the choice between a 'credible leave option and remain'.

Sir Keir, writing on Twitter, said: 'It's no use trying to hide from these very disappointing results. We need to reflect hard and listen to our members, supporters and voters.

'The only way to break the Brexit impasse is to go back to the public with a choice between a credible leave option and remain.'

Mr Farage embraced Ms Widdecombe at a celebratory parade of new Brexit Party MEPs in central London this afternoon

As UK politics went up in flames over Brexit today, David Cameron was celebrating Aston Villa taking the lead in the Championship football playoff against Derby at Wembley

On the Liberal Democrat side, leader Vince Cable warned today that a no deal Brexit would see the UK wander into a global trade 'battlefield' between the United States and China, saying he would try to avoid it happening.

Sir Vince, 76, who is stepping down despite the party's recent resurgence, insisted that there was a 'majority to stay' in the EU after his party beat both the Tories and Labour in an election for the first time in more than 100 years.

His party came second behind the Brexit Party in the European vote, also defeating Labour in London.

Today Mr Cable took a swipe at hard Brexiteers such as Nigel Farage who have advocated leaving on World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade terms.

The Lib Dem leader, who backs a second referendum, told Sky News: 'There is no such thing at the moment as WTO rules.

'The World Trade Organisation system, the rules-based system of trade, which operated until quite recently is in the process of collapsing.

'The United States and China, the two biggest economies and the two biggest trading countries in the world, are in a trade war.

'Those people who say ''let's have WTO rules'' want us to wander into the middle of that battlefield - that is the reality and that is why the argument has moved on so fundamentally since where we were three years ago.'