EuroLiveblog

I thought I'd join the happy few who are covering the event - so far it looks like it could just be Jeff and me exchanging updates. However, Malc has now joined us.

2:09 That's it - there's nothing more to stay up for. Labour are third behind UKIP in England and Wales. Labour are, on the whole, lucky to stay in double figures. The BNP are now Parliamentarians. I'm off to bed now, right after I've sewn a pink triangle onto all of my clothes.

2:05 North West: Con 3, Lab 2, UKIP 1, LD 1, BNP 1. LibDems lose a seat through the re-allocations, Labour fall back to second place, UKIP overtake the Liberal Democrats and Labour lose a seat to the BNP, with BNP Leader Nick Griffin going to the EP. As someone who voted for the Green candidate in this region, I'm physically sickened that I'm now represented by a member of the BNP. Let us only hope that the publicity vacuum that is the European Parliament as far as the UK media is concerned sees Nick Griffin fade into obscurity rather than being able to use his position as a bully pulpit. Let us also hope that any group he cobbles together collapses under the weight of its own bigotry, as happened the last time it was attempted. What a grim way to end the evening.

1:55 West Midlands: Con 2, UKIP 2, Lab 1, LD 1. The Tories lose a seat to the re-allocation, Labour lose a seat and UKIP gain one, overtaking them. Only the North West left from the overnight counts now, then Scotland in the morning...

1:37 Orkney: Labour came sixth behind the Greens and UKIP...

1:25 South East: Con 4, UKIP 2, LD 2, Green 1, Lab 1. No change in the allocation of seats, but the Greens overtake Labour here as well. Labour lose 5%, with the Greens gaining 4. Dan Hannan inadvertantly compares Gordon Brown to Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'd quite like it, personally. Now he's quoting Doctor Seuss. Nurse, the screens!

1:20 South West, presented by a Returning Officer who is clearly relishing his moment in the spotlight: Con 3, UKIP 2, LD 1. Labour wiped out in the South West. Greens overtake Labour, though that doesn't win them a seat. Mebyon Kernow, representing just one part of the region outpolled Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party, Bob Crow's No2EU, Declan Ganley's Libertas and the Jury Team. Ouch!

1:05 From HP:

the snp have incredibly won labour heartland in greenock by 160 votes. get it blogged!

More than happy to.

12:53 East Midlands: Con 2, Lab 1, UKIP 1, LD 1. Labour overtake UKIP, who lose a seat. The LibDems hold a seat and do not gain one, as the BBC report: the region simply loses an MEP. With the absence of Kilroy, the UKIP vote has collapsed, but the Labour vote has still fallen.

12:40 London: Con 3, Lab 2, LD 1, Green 1, UKIP 1. Labour lose a seat to the reduction in available MEPs. Only minor swings here, but the Greens do overtake UKIP. Hurrah!

12:30 Computer problems in the South East, complaints about the ballot paper... See? It's not just Scotland!

12:19 BBC GB-wide projection: Con 27%, UKIP 17% Lab 16%, LD 14%, Green 9% BNP 6%. Ay, ay, ay...

12:04 A thought occurs: to the best of my knowledge, in post-war politics, perhaps even post WW1 politics, Labour have come first in at least one nation of the UK. In this election, unless there's something REALLY unexpected round the corner, Labour have come first in none of them. This is where the Tories were in 1997, but with one significant difference: Wales is now a three-way open contest with the Tories on top, England is dominated by parties of the right, and Scotland shows a clear SNP lead. Three different situations in each of the mainland UK nations, and a radically different situation in Scotland. Although the Scottish share for the SNP might not necessarily suggest a concrete vote for independence, this highlights just how much Scottish politics has decoupled from the rest of the UK. Is this, therefore, a more significant milestone on the road to the end of the Union than the outcome of the 2007 Elections? Perhaps...

11:46 Wales: Tories, Labour, Plaid, UKIP one MEP each. Tories now in first place ahead of Labour - when the hell did that happen? Labour shed 12% of the vote here, distributed relatively evenly.

11:28 Yorkshire & The Humber: BNP win a seat, at the expense of Labour. Tories 2, Labour 1, UKIP 1, LD 1, BNP 1. It would have to be Yorkshire, wouldn't it? This is the moment no one wanted, and now it's here. Let's just hope that Nik Griffin is kept out in the North West.

11:21 Dumfries & Galloway: Tories first, SNP second, Labour third.

11:14 Rumour has it SNP came first in the Glasgow South Westminster seat - Tom Harris may be just ever so slightly unsettled by that...

11:10 Seems Labour might have come fifth in the South West of England, and sixth in Cornwall behind Mebyon Kernow.

11:08 East of England: Con 3, UKIP 2, LibDem 1, Labour 1. No change in the seats, but Labour fall to fourth place from third. Labour lose 6%, Greens go up 3%, BNP go up 2%.

10:52 Oh, good. Labour have put Anne McGuire on the BBC Scotland programme. That's Anne McGuire, the sacker of disabled workers. DIE DIE DIE YOU COLD-HEARTED BITCH FROM HELL!!!!!! Sorry, I've calmed down now...

10:49 SNP take Highland, LibDems 2nd, Tories 3rd, Labour 4th.

10:46 Labour hold Glasgow by about 3%; SNP take Stirling.

10:42 European Parliament projects EPP at 263-273, Socialists at 155-165, ALDE at 78-84, Greens/EFA at 52-56, United Left and UEN at 33-37 each, Ind/Dem at 15-19 (end of group, basically) and Non-Inscrits at 83-89.

10:34 SNP appear to be ahead in Aberdeen City as well as in the Shire.

10:24 It seems official: Labour third in East Renfrewshire, behind the Tories and the SNP. SNP ahead in the popular vote by about 8%.

10:19 SNP pick up Aberdeenshire and Falkirk; Labour hang on to North Lanarkshire; Tories take South Ayrshire and also the Borders, where Labour may have come fifth. The question is, is it the Greens who have gone into the Top 4, or UKIP?

10:11 Rather naughty of the BBC to have Charlie Falconer on the panel after this morning...

9:57 SNP win in Edinburgh? Tory win in Wales? Mutterings suggest so...

9:52 Further info: SNP first place in South Lanarkshire?

9:50 Word is the SNP have come first in Renfrewshire...

9:46 Malc and Jeff have Labour leading in Fife by a gnat's bollock - SNP vote has gone up by about 8%.

9:42 First UK seats in the North East of England: looks like Lab 1, Con 1, LD 1. No change in make-up of representation, but Labour are down 9%.

9:07 France: UMP (EPP) 28 (up 11); Socialists 15 (down 13); Greens 14 (up 8); Democratic Movement 6 (down 3); Leftist parties 6 (up 3). Good for Sarko, the Greens and the Left; bad for the Socialists, Francois Bayrou and Jean-Marie Le Pen - the Non-inscrits in France go down from nine to three.

9:05 Brian Taylor predicts a first place for the SNP; Yousuf (the yapping one) reckons Labour will lose an MEP.

9:00 First results indicate major gains for the Greens, heavy losses for the Socialists.

8:30 Hungary: EuroNews has opposition Fidesz Party (EPP) on 67%, to Socialists' 19%.

8:28 I can tell you that EuroNews has Labour 12% ahead of the Nationalists. In Malta, that is.

8:25 EuroNews exit poll: Governing Spanish PSOE (Socialist) have been gubbed by the Partido Popular (EPP) - 21-22% for Zapatero's party, 43% for the Centre-Right.

8:19 EuroNews exit poll in UK puts Tories on 26%, UKIP on 18%, Labour on 16%. They don't give the LibDem share so this may suggest that they've avoided fourth place (but third to UKIP is still bad enough). LibDems may well have a problem - could the Greens have siphoned off votes from them?

8:13 As we know, the Scottish result won't be out until tomorrow morning, thanks to the Western Isles count result being delayed. However, it's already been counted (on Friday) and all that we'll be waiting for in the morning is the actual announcement. One SNP activist at the count described himself as "rather pleased".

8:09 Greens polling strongly in France, with joint lists involving Regional Parties (effectively a Greens-EFA list). Joint list apparently polling 18% in South East France, with Savoy regionalist François Alfonsi elected to the EP.

7:56 EU-wide turnout reported at 43%, down on 2004.

Anyway as things stand at 7:50, Germany has a commanding lead for the CDU/CSU, about 17 percentage points ahead of the SPD. Greens on 12%, FDP on 11%, Left Party on 7%. If this were a Bundestag election (and there's one coming up in the Autumn), we'd probably be looking at Angela Merkel getting the Coalition she wanted in 2005 - with Guido Westerwelle's Free Democrats.