2009 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom
Constituency Representation in 2004 Representation in 2009 Net Gain/Loss
East Midlands 6 5 1
East of England 7 7
London 9 8 1
North East England 3 3
North West England 9 8 1
Northern Ireland 3 3
Scotland 7 6 1
South East England 10 10
South West England 7 6 1
Wales 4 4
West Midlands 7 6 1
Yorkshire and the Humber 6 6
Overall 78 72 6
Background -- Constituencies and representation
As has been the case since 1999 , the electoral constituencies were based on the government 's nine English regions , Scotland , Northern Ireland and Wales , creating a total of 12 constituencies . The Treaty of Nice fixed the number of MEPs for the whole European Parliament at 736 ; as a consequence of the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007 , the number of seats allocated to the United Kingdom was reduced from 78 to 72 . If the Lisbon Treaty had entered into force by June 2009 this figure would have been 73 . On 31 July 2007 , in line with the required reduction in representation from the United Kingdom the number of members elected from each region was modified by the Boundary Commission and Electoral Commission , based on the size of the electorate in each region . The recommended changes were approved by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 2008 . [ 8 ] Changes in regional seat allocations [ 9 ]
The European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2009 European Parliament election, the voting for which was held on Thursday 4 June 2009. The election was held concurrently with the 2009 local elections in England. In total, 72 Members of the European Parliament were elected from the United Kingdom using proportional representation. Notable outcomes were the significant drop in support for the Labour Party, who came third, and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) finishing second in a major election for the first time in its history, coming level with Labour in terms of seats but ahead of them in terms of votes. This was the first time in British electoral history that a party in government had been outpolled in a national election by a party with no representation in the House of Commons. The British National Party BNP also won two seats, its first ever in a nationwide election. It also marked the first time the Scottish National Party (SNP) won the largest share of the European election vote in Scotland, and it was the first time since 1918 Labour had failed to come first in a Welsh election. It was the Democratic Unionist Party's (DUP) worst ever European election result, and also the first time an Irish Republican party, Sinn Féin, topped the poll in Northern Ireland.