Labour loses MEP as Brexit Party takes two seats in North East - how South Tyneside voted in the European Parliament elections 2019

Newly elected MEP Brian Montieth talks about the Brexit Party's success at the European Parliamentary elections count for the North East in Sunderland. Picture by Tom Wilkinson/PA Wire

The Brexit Party's Brian Monteith and John David Edward Tennant, and Labour's sitting MEP Jude Kirton-Darling were the three MEPs elected to represent the region in Brussels and Strasbourg.

Labour lost one of its MEPs, Paul Brannen MEP. Jonathan Arnott, who was elected for UKIP in 2014 but quit the party to sit as an independent, was not up for reelection.

But how long the three MEPs elected this year will sit in the European Parliament remains to be seen as the Government and MPs try to find a way forward for Brexit.

MEPs are elected using a list system, where voters choose a political party and candidates are appointed based on the number of votes each party gets.

The North East was the first region to declare a result in the UK, with the regional count taking place at the Sunderland Tennis Centre in Silksworth.

The overall results for the North East were Change UK 24,968, Conservative 42,395, Green Party 49,905, Labour 119,931, Liberal Democrats 104,330, The Brexit Party 240,056, UKIP 38269.

The results for South Tyneside were Change UK 1,465, Conservative 1,842, Green Party 3,905, Labour Party 8,140, Liberal Democrats 3,734, The Brexit Party 14,864, UKIP 2,410.

Other results for England and Wales will continue to be announced throughout the night, with Scotland due to declare around 11am on Bank Holiday Monday, and Northern Ireland on Tuesday.

Voting took place across the UK on Thursday, but as most other EU member states hold their elections on Sundays, rules mean results cannot be announced until after 10pm on the final day of polling in the continent.

The European election results came after another tumultuous week in British politics, which Theresa May announcing she would step down as Tory party leader on June 7 after failing to get her Brexit deal through Parliament.

Fewer than one in three South Tyneside voters took part in the European elections.

Just 36,541 voters out of a possible 114,390 in the borough cast their ballots, a turnout of 31.9%.

The turnout figure for the North East overall was 32.7% - a total of 623,289 votes out of a possible 1,905,534.

The figure is slightly higher than for the last European elections in 2014, when the turnout was 31.0% - with 608,652 unspoiled ballots cast out of a total electorate of 1,968,780.

Hartlepool's turnout was the lowest in the region, with just 18,003 voters out of a possible 70,599 taking part, a turnout of 25.5%.