Harrogate Lib Dems' delight at European election results

The Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats have spoken of their delight at the party's performance in the EU election results for Yorkshire and the Humber.

Their chairman, Michael Newby, said the party more than doubled their vote compared to the last European elections.

He said: "We are delighted by how well the Lib Dems did in the Harrogate District. We more than doubled our vote compared to the last European elections and secured more votes than the Greens and Conservatives combined.

"The votes in the ballot boxes from Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency strongly suggested that the Lib Dems were in the lead in that part of the district.”

Judith Rogerson, Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Harrogate & Knaresborough, said: “During the European election campaign, we spoke to lots of voters in Harrogate and in Knaresborough who told us that they would be supporting the Lib Dems because of our clear and consistent pro-remain message about Europe.

"We are very pleased to see that this was reflected in results both locally and across the whole country. Many of those we talked to on the doorstep said that they have always voted Conservative or Labour in the past, but will not do so again because they feel so let down over Brexit.

"Thanks to the support of those who voted Liberal Democrat, Yorkshire and the Humber now has a fantastic Lib Dem MEP, Shaffaq Mohammed. I know Shaffaq well, so have no doubt, at all that he will be a strong and committed representative for our region.”

The Brexit Party won the European elections both in Yorkshire and nationally.

Nigel Farage's party took three of the six seats up for grabs in the region. Harrogate had the highest turnout in the whole of the Yorkshire and the Humber region, with 42.78%.

Making up the rest of the region's six representatives are one Labour, one Lib Dem and one Green.

The people heading to Brussels to represent Yorkshire and the Humber are:

John Longworth, Brexit Party

Lucy Harris, Brexit Party

Richard Corbett, Labour

Shaffaq Mohammed, Liberal Democrats

Magid Magid, Green Party

Jake Pugh, Brexit Party

Vote breakdown for Harrogate:

The Brexit Party - 16,039

Liberal Democrats - 13,707

The Green Party - 6,447

Conservative and Unionist Party - 6,364