In Britain, Farage's Brexit Party storms to EU election victory

'Brexit betrayal '

Farage casts Britain's political system as broken and says parliament and the government are trying to thwart Brexit. He wants the United Kingdom to leave the EU as soon as possible and says the damage of a no-deal departure has been blown out of proportion.

Farage, who as UKIP leader persuaded May's predecessor, David Cameron, to call the Brexit referendum and then helped lead the campaign to leave the EU, has said that failure to implement Brexit would show Britain not to be a democracy.

While the United Kingdom remains deeply divided over Brexit, most agree that it will shape the future of the United Kingdom for generations to come.

Pro-Europeans fear Brexit will undermine London's position as one of the world's top two financial capitals and weaken the West as it grapples with Donald Trump's unpredictable US presidency and growing assertiveness from Russia and China.

The Liberal Democrats, who campaigned under the slogan "Bollocks to Brexit", oppose Brexit and want a second referendum to stop it.

The loss of Britain for the EU is the biggest blow yet to more than 60 years of efforts to forge European unity after two world wars, though the 27 other members of the bloc have shown surprising unity during the tortuous negotiations.

In the 2014 EU Parliament election, what was then Farage's UK Independence Party won with 26.8 percent, followed by Labour on 24.7 percent and the Conservatives on 23.3 percent. The Greens won 7.7 percent in 2014 and the Liberal Democrats 6.7 percent. Turnout was 35.6 percent.

Reuters