A Brexit Party EU election candidate who lives in France has won a seat representing the North East of England.
Lead candidate Brian Monteith listed his address in a village named Trevien, in southern France in his notice of election, which includes all candidates' names and addresses,
There is no rule in electoral law saying a UK candidate in the EU elections must live in the country.
Monteith said he lives between the UK and France, but has refused to say whether he planned to move to the North East region now that he's been elected.
Labour’s Jude Kirton-Darling roasted him as a ‘hypocrite’ in her own acceptance speech.
He added he had no intention of taking a position on any issue raised in the European parliament because the decision should be taken in the UK.
The North East elected three MEPs two from the Brexit Party, which gained 38% of the vote, and just one from Labour which polled just under 20% of the vote share.
The combined Green, Lib Dem and Change UK share of the vote in the North East rose by 17.79% - while the Labour share fell by 17.12%, a similar amount
Monteith was a Member of Scottish Parliament for the Conservatives between 1999 and 2007.
The Scottish Conservative Party withdrew the whip from Monteith when it emerged that he had been briefing the media against the then Scottish Conservative leader David McLetchie regarding questions over McLetchie's £11,500 of claims for taxi expenses.
In 2006 Monteith announced he would not stand again as an MSP, saying he "would rather return to commerce than be a one-man band swimming against the treacly tide of collectivism in the Scottish Parliament"
From December 2015 Brian Monteith was seconded to Leave.EU for the duration of the referendum campaign.
