Boris Johnson warns Conservatives to deliver Brexit or face 'permanent haemorrhage' after horrific European election result

Jason Collie27 May 2019
WEST END FINAL

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Would-be Conservative leader Boris Johnson has warned his party it must deliver Brexit or face a 'permanent haemorrhage' of voters after a disastrous night of European election results.

The Tories finished fifth with just nine per cent of the vote in England and Wales and seem on course for their worst election performance since 1832 after losing 15 seats.

Nigel Farage's fledgling Brexit Party was the overwhelming winner of the night and Mr Johnson, who is vying to succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader, said the Government had to react to a "crushing rebuke".

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Johnson said the message from the results was clear over Brexit.

He said: "The voters are delivering a crushing rebuke to the Government – in fact, to both major parties.

"They gave us one chief task: to deliver Brexit.... We have missed deadline after deadline, broken promise after broken promise; and today our employers – the people – have figuratively summoned us to the Human Resources department for a final warning about our performance."

Last night leadership rival Jeremy Hunt warned the Tories faced an "existential risk to our party unless we now come together and get Brexit done".

Mr Johnson agreed, adding: "If we fail yet again to discharge that mandate, then I fear we will see a permanent haemorrhage of Conservative support, and loyal voters who have left us to join the Brexit Party (and others) may simply never come back."

The Conservatives won 19 MEP seats in 2014 – this morning their tally stood at just three.

The Brexit Party took 28 seats, while a resurgent Liberal Democrat party had gone from a single MEP to 14.

Labour lost seats but still held 11, while the Greens with seven MEPs pushed the Tories into fifth place.

To compound its rejection at the polls, it emerged that the party did not finish top in any local authority area in England or Wales, and even finished third in outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May's backyard of Windsor and Maidenhead.

Mr Johnson said he would set out next week what he believed would be a winning agenda for the Conservatives and the country.

"We can and must deliver," he said. "No one sensible would aim exclusively for a no-deal outcome.

"No one responsible would take no-deal off the table.

"If we are courageous and optimistic, we can strike a good bargain with our friends across the Channel, come out well and on time - by October 31 - and start delivering on all the hopes and ambitions of the people."

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