Leeds Labour MP Richard Burgon: 'I still believe we'd win a General Election'

Richard Burgon, Labour MP for Leeds East Credit: PA

Labour's Shadow Justice Secretary claims Labour are still in a good position to win a General Election – despite suffering a heavy defeat in the European Elections.

In the Yorkshire and The Humber region the party lost around 13% of its vote compared with the last EU election in 2014.

Only UKIP – which lost almost 27% of its vote – fared worse, as Nigel Farage's newly formed Brexit Party took more than 36% of the vote.

The Conservatives' vote was down by 12%, while both the Lib Dems and the Green Party made gains.

But Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon, who is MP for Leeds East, said the result would not be reflected in a General Election.

He said: "We think we can bring people together at the next General Election.

"That was always going to be hard electorally at an EU election, with a smaller turnout and where basically it became a proxy second referendum.

"At a General Election around double the number of people would be voting and it would be a far wider range of issues being discussed, so I believe we can still win the next General Election."