Italy's far-right leader has called on Nigel Farage to join him in a new Eurosceptic pact in Brussels.
Matteo Salvini - nicknamed “The Captain” - has said he plans to form a new group in the fractured European Parliament with populist leaders
The League, Mr Salvini’s party, romped to victory in the poll - placing first in Italy with 34% of the vote.
It comes after the ‘Grand Coalition’ of centrist parties in Brussels took a beating in the election, leaving an opening for right wing and nationalist parties to seize more control.
Mr Salvini has already invited Hungary’s Viktor Orban and France’s Marine Le Pen to join his new group - the Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF).
Speaking in Rome, Mr Salvini said: “Not only is The League the top party in Italy, Marine Le Pen is the top party in France, Nigel Farage is the top party in the UK. So Italy, France, the UK, it’s a sign of a Europe that is changing.”
A source close to Mr Farage played down suggestions the Brexit Party could team up with Mr Salvini and Ms Le Pen.
Instead, the source said the party is now big enough to operate on its own, without formally sitting with a group.
“He’s got the biggest single party in the European Parliament,” the source said.
And arriving in Brussels for the first time since Sunday’s results, Farage posed for pictures with the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group, of which he remains President.
Celebrating his party’s victory, Mr Salvini tweeted a picture of himself holding up a sign which read: “Number 1 in Italy - Thankyou.”
Items arranged on the right-wing leader’s bookshelf in the picture included a Donald Trump “Make America Great Again” baseball cap and a picture of Russian hardman Vladimir Putin.
