2009 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom

The 2009 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2009 European Parliament election, the voting for which was held on Thursday 4 June 2009. The election was held concurrently with the 2009 local elections in England. 72 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected from the United Kingdom using proportional representation.

The election was won by the Conservative Party, who won 27 seats with a share of 27.9% of the national vote. This was the last European election in the United Kingdom at which either the Conservatives or the Labour Party finished in first place. Other notable outcomes were that Labour – which came third – suffered a significant drop in support, and that the UK Independence Party (UKIP) finished second in a major election for the first time in its history, coming level with Labour in terms of seats but ahead of it in terms of votes. This was the first time in British electoral history that a party in government had been outpolled in a national election by a party with no representation in the House of Commons.

The British National Party (BNP) also won two seats, its first ever in a nationwide election. It also marked the first time the Scottish National Party (SNP) won the largest share of the European election vote in Scotland, and the first time Labour had failed to come first in a Welsh election since 1918. It was the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)'s worst ever European election result, and also the first time an Irish Republican party, Sinn Féin, topped the polls in Northern Ireland.

Background

Electoral system The United Kingdom elected 72 members of the European Parliament using proportional representation. It was divided into twelve multi-member constituencies, or regions. The eleven of these regions which form Great Britain used a closed-list party list system method of proportional representation, calculated using the D'Hondt method. Northern Ireland used the single transferable vote (STV).

The experimental use of all-postal ballots in four regions in 2004 was not repeated, resulting in a sharp reduction in turnout in those regions.

Constituencies and representation As had been the case since 1999, the electoral constituencies were based on the government's nine English regions, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, creating a total of 12 constituencies. The Treaty of Nice fixed the number of MEPs for the whole European Parliament at 736; as a consequence of the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007, the number of seats allocated to the United Kingdom was reduced from 78 to 72. If the Treaty of Lisbon had entered into force by June 2009, this figure would have been 73.

On 31 July 2007, in line with the required reduction in representation from the United Kingdom, the number of members elected from each region was modified by the Boundary Commission and Electoral Commission, based on the size of the electorate in each region. The recommended changes were approved by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 2008.

Changes in regional seat allocations ConstituencyRepresentation in 2004Representation in 2009Net gain/lossEast Midlands65 1East of England77 London98 1North East England33 North West England98 1Northern Ireland33 Scotland76 1South East England1010 South West England176 1Wales44 West Midlands76 1Yorkshire and the Humber66 Overall7872 6 1Includes Gibraltar, the only British overseas territory which was then part of the EU.

MEPs retiring Conservative Christopher Beazley (East of England) John Bowis (London) Philip Bushill-Matthews (West Midlands) Jonathan Evans (Wales) – Became MP for Cardiff North in 2010 Chris Heaton-Harris (East Midlands) – Became MP for Daventry in 2010 Caroline Jackson (South West England) Neil Parish (South West England) – Became MP for Tiverton and Honiton in 2010 John Purvis (Scotland) David Sumberg (North West England)

Labour Robert Evans (London) Glenys Kinnock (Wales) Eluned Morgan (Wales) Gary Titley (North West England)

UKIP Jeffrey Titford (East of England) John Whittaker (North West England) Roger Knapman (South West England)

Liberal Democrat Elspeth Attwooll (Scotland) Emma Nicholson (South East England)

Independents Den Dover (North West England) – former Conservative MEP, expelled over his expenses Robert Kilroy-Silk (East Midlands) – former UKIP MEP, created new party Veritas"Kilroy-Silk to leave European Parliament" , This Is Nottingham Ashley Mote (South East England) – former UKIP MEP, expelled for expenses fraud for which he was later jailed (Archived by WebCite at ) Tom Wise (East of England) – former UKIP MEP, expelled for expenses fraud for which he was later jailed

Opinion polls In the run up to the election, several polling organisations carried out public opinion polling in regards to voting intentions in Great Britain. Results of such polls are displayed below.

ComRes, ICM, Populus and YouGov are members of the British Polling Council, and abide by its disclosure rules. BPIX is not a member of the BPC, and does not publish detailed methodology and findings.

Date(s)conductedPolling organisation/client Con Lab UKIP Lib Dem Green BNP OthersLead4 June 2009EU Election, 2009 (GB Result)27.7%15.7%16.5%13.7%8.6%6.2%11.6% 11.2%03/06/09 YouGov/Daily Telegraph 26% 16% 18% 15% 10% 5% 10% 8%31/05/09 ComRes/Green Party 24% 22% 17% 14% 15% 2% 6% 2%29/05/09 YouGov/Daily Telegraph 27% 17% 16% 15% 9% 7% 9% 10%28/05/09 ICM/Sunday Telegraph 29% 17% 10% 20% 11% 5% 8% 9%28/05/09 Populus/Times 30% 16% 19% 12% 10% 5% 8% 11%21/05/09 ICM/Guardian 30% 24% 10% 18% 9% 1% 8% 6%16/05/09 YouGov/Daily Telegraph 28% 22% 15% 17% 7% 5% 5% 6%14/05/09 ComRes/UKIP 28% 23% 15% 14% 11% 4% 5% 5%14/05/09 YouGov/Sun 29% 20% 15% 19% 6% 3% 6% 9%10/05/09 Populus/Times 34% 25% 6% 20% 5% 2% 8% 9%08/05/09 YouGov/Sunday Times 36% 25% 7% 20% 4% 4% 7% 11%04/05/09 ICM/TPA 32% 28% 9% 22% 1% 1% 7% 4%08/01/09 YouGov/TPA 35% 29% 7% 15% 5% 4% 5% 6%10 June 2004EU Election, 2004 (GB results only)26.7%22.6%16.1%14.9%6.3%4.9%8.5% 4.1%

Results

United Kingdom

Party Votes SeatsNumber % +/- Seats +/- % 4,281,286 27.4 1.0 26 1 36.1 2,498,226 16.0 0.4 13 1 18.1 2,381,760 15.2 6.6 13 5 18.1 2,080,613 13.3 1.1 11 1 15.3 1,223,3037.8 2.2 2 2.8 943,598 6.2 1.3 2 2 2.8 321,007 2.1 0.7 2 2.8 279,801 1.8 1.0 0 /CPA1 249,493 1.6 1.3 0 173,115 1.1 New 0 153,236 1.0 New 0 126,702 0.8 0.1 1 1.4 126,184 0.8 1 1.4 88,346 0.6 0.5 1 1.4 80,442 0.5 0 78,569 0.5 New 0 78,489 0.5 0 74,007 0.5 New 0 73,544 0.5 New 0 66,197 0.4 New 0 Jan Jananayagam (Ind.) 50,014 0.3 New 0 37,785 0.2 0 26,699 0.2 New 0 15,764 0.1 0.1 0 14,922 0.1 New 0 13,201 0.1 New 0 10,404 0.1 0.3 0 Duncan Robertson (Ind.) 10,189 0.1 New 0 Peter Rigby (Ind.) 9,916 0.1 New 0 9,534 0.1 0 Katie Hopkins (Ind.) 8,971 0.1 New 0 Fair Play Fair Trade Party 7,151 0.0 New 0 Roman Party 5,450 0.0 New 0 Steven Cheung (Ind.) 4,918 0.0 New 0 4,050 0.0 New 0 Francis Apaloo (Ind.) 3,621 0.0 New 0 Yes 2 Europe 3,384 0.0 New 0 Sohale Rahman (Ind.) 3,248 0.0 New 0 Gene Alcantara (Ind.) 1,972 0.0 New 0 Haroon Saad (Ind.) 1,603 0.0 New 0 Wai D 789 0.0 New 0 Total 15,621,503 72 6 100

Great Britain

Turnout in Great Britain was 34.3%, with 15,137,202 votes out of a total electorate of 44,171,778. Most of the results of the election were announced on Sunday 7 June, after similar elections were held in the other 26 member states of the European Union. Scotland declared its result on Monday 8 June, as counting in the Western Isles was delayed due to observance of the Sabbath.

Great Britain kept to the Europe-wide trend towards the right. The Labour Party, which was in its twelfth year of government of the United Kingdom, polled third and suffered a significant drop in support; UKIP finished second in a major election for the first time in its history, coming level with Labour in terms of seats but ahead of it in terms of votes. This was the first time in British electoral history that a party in government had been outpolled in a national election by a party with no representation in the House of Commons.

The Conservatives won in every region in Great Britain except the North East, where Labour won, and Scotland, where the SNP won. Labour suffered most notably in Cornwall, where it came sixth behind Mebyon Kernow, and in the wider South West region and South East, where it polled fifth behind the Green Party. The British National Party won two seats, its first ever in a national election. The share of the vote achieved by the English Democrats doubled.

The turnout in Scotland was the lowest in the United Kingdom at 28.8%, with 1,104,512 votes out of a total electorate of 3,872,975. In Scotland it was the first time the SNP won the largest share of the European election vote. The SNP share of the vote rose by 9.4% points compared to 2004; this was the biggest positive swing for any party in any region in Great Britain.

In Wales it was the first time since 1918 that Labour had failed to come first in a Welsh election, dropping 12.2%. In Wales the Conservative Party topped the poll, with the nationalist Plaid Cymru coming a close third. UKIP took the fourth Welsh seat, the first time Wales had elected a UKIP MEP. Both the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party polled their lowest regional shares in Wales, though Wales was the only region where the Liberal Democrat share of the vote rose compared with 2004.

Summary of the election results for Great Britain Party Votes won % of vote % Plus/minus Seats Plus/minus vs actual '04 result Plus/minus vs notional '04 result† Seats % 4,198,394 27.7% 1.0 25 2 1 37.7 2,498,226 16.5% 0.4 13 1 1 18.8 2,381,760 15.7% 6.9 13 6 5 18.8 2,080,613 13.7% 1.2 11 1 1 15.9 1,223,3038.1% 2.3 2 2.9 943,598 6.2% 1.3 2 2 2 2.9 321,007 2.1% 0.7 2 2.9 279,801 1.8% 1.1 0 0 /Christian Peoples Alliance1 249,493 1.6% 1.3 0 0 173,115 1.1% New 0 0 153,236 1.0% New 0 0 126,702 0.8% 0.1 1 1.4 80,442 0.5% 0 0 78,569 0.5% New 0 0 74,007 0.5% New 0 0 73,544 0.5% New 0 0 Jan Jananayagam (Independent) 50,014 0.3% New 0 0 37,785 0.2% 0 0 14,922 0.1% New 0 0 13,201 0.1% New 0 0 10,404 0.1% 0.3 0 0 Duncan Robertson (Independent) 10,189 0.1% New 0 0 Peter Rigby (Independent) 9,916 0.1% New 0 0 9,534 0.1% 0 0 Katie Hopkins (Independent) 8,971 0.1% New 0 0 Fair Play Fair Trade Party 7,151 0.0% New 0 0 Roman Party 5,450 0.0% New 0 0 Steven Cheung (Independent) 4,918 0.0% New 0 0 4,050 0.0% New 0 0 Francis Apaloo (Independent) 3,621 0.0% New 0 0 Yes 2 Europe 3,384 0.0% New 0 0 Sohale Rahman (Independent) 3,248 0.0% New 0 0 Gene Alcantara (Independent) 1,972 0.0% New 0 0 Haroon Saad (Independent) 1,603 0.0% New 0 0 Wai D 789 0.0% New 0 0 Total 15,136,932 69 6 100

†Seat change has been adjusted to allow for direct comparison with the results from the 2004 election.

1Joint ticket, ran in England as The Christian Party - Christian Peoples Alliance.

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory (BOT) and therefore is under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United Kingdom but does not form part of it.The 14 Territories Gibraltar was, however, part of the EU, the only BOT to be so, and participated as part of the South West England constituency.

Turnout was 35% in Gibraltar, below the 39% for the South West England electoral region as a whole and significantly lower than the turnout in Gibraltar in 2004. (Archived by WebCite at )

The Conservatives won with 53.3% of the votes. Labour narrowly retained second place achieving 19% to the Liberal Democrats' 18.2%.

Party Votes won Vote share (%) Change (%) 3,721 53.3 16.2 1,328 19.0 9.6 1,269 18.2 10.6 224 3.2 5.5 100 1.4 0.3 94 1.4 0.5 70 1.0 New 56 0.8 New 37 0.5 New 26 0.4 New - Katie Hopkins 15 0.2 New 12 0.2 New 8 0.1 New Fair Pay Fair Trade 8 0.1 New 6 0.1 New Wai D Your Decision 4 0.1 New 3 0.0 New

Northern Ireland