A Brexit Party candidate who lives in the south of France has been elected to represent the northeast of England in the European parliament.

Brian Monteith, a former Conservative member of the Scottish parliament, is one of two pro-Brexit candidates to win in the region, after Nigel Farage’s insurgent party pulled off a major victory in the EU elections on Sunday night.

He will be joined in Brussels by John Tennant, a former aide to Mr Farage who once praised a Ukip MEP for using a Nazi slogan to insult a German colleague.

Jude Kirton-Darling, a Labour MEP who retained the region’s third and final seat, said voters had elected a “man who cares not for this region”.

“I think it’s the height of hypocrisy that somebody who’s standing on a platform to remove free movement from the young people of this area … actually benefits himself from free movement by living in France and commuting between London and his home in France for work,” she said.

EU elections 2019 Europewide results Show all 9 1 /9 EU elections 2019 Europewide results EU elections 2019 Europewide results European People's Party group MEPs: 182 Vote share: 24.2% EU elections 2019 Europewide results Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats MEPs: 147 Vote share: 19.6% EU elections 2019 Europewide results Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group MEPs: 109 Vote share: 14.5% EU elections 2019 Europewide results Greens–European Free Alliance MEPs: 69 Vote share: 9.2% EU elections 2019 Europewide results European Conservatives and Reformists MEPs: 59 Vote share: 7.9% EU elections 2019 Europewide results Europe of Nations and Freedom MEPs: 58 Vote share: 7.7% EU elections 2019 Europewide results Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy MEPs: 54 Vote share: 7.2% EU elections 2019 Europewide results European United Left–Nordic Green Left MEPs: 38 Vote share: 5.1% EU elections 2019 Europewide results Non-Inscrits and other parties Non Inscrits (MEPs not affiliated with a parliamentary grouping): 6 Vote share: 0.8% Other parties: 29 Vote share: 3.9%

In a notice of election, which includes all candidates’ addresses, Mr Monteith is listed as living in Trevien, a village with fewer than 200 residents, according to a 2016 census.

Brexit Party’s Brian Monteith at a counting centre in Sunderland (Reuters)

Mr Monteith, who was branded a “Thatcherite Scottish Tory” by Ukip’s lead northeast candidate Richard Elvin, told The Guardian it was “not unusual” to live in a country different to the one in which you are seeking election, and said he was now moving back to Britain.

In a region which strongly backed Leave in the 2016 referendum, the Brexit Party’s success there came as no surprise.

Mr Farage’s party won 240,056 votes, more than twice as many as Labour (119,931) in second and the Liberal Democrats (104,330) in third.