Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson has failed in his bid to get elected to the European Parliament.

Mr Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, came in eighth place in the North West England region with 38,908 votes.

The far-right activist is a political adviser to the current Ukip leader Gerrard Batten.

He blamed Government "interference" with social media companies for his failure to secure a seat in the European Parliament.

The independent candidate polled 2.2% of the overall vote in the North West as the Brexit Party gained the largest share with 31.2%.

He said he was unable to fight a fair campaign because he was taken off various social media platforms.

Speaking on arrival at the count in Manchester, he said: "Trump won his campaign on social media. Brexit was won on social media. I'm banned from social media.

"So my ability to fight a fair campaign is gone, orchestrated and organised by the Government.

"I feel like I have been fighting with my hands tied behind my back.

"I think on my Facebook (page) 59 million watched my videos in four weeks ... if I still had that ability now I would have walked this election.

"This has proved you cannot have a fair campaign when the establishment and the Government interfere and remove any ability you have to talk to the public.

"My supporters are not even allowed to mention my name or they get deleted, it's dark."

He added: "I am just happy if I got non-voters to vote. I'm happy if I politicised people from working class communities.

"I think this whole election is about Brexit so Nigel Farage can absolutely smash it but I would be excited about that if the Brexit Party would talk about the issues that I feel affect most of us in working class communities. They are just another politically correct party unfortunately but they are great on the European Union."

Robinson stayed for just short of an hour at the count venue at Manchester Central as he conceded defeat before the first council area result was officially declared.

Before leaving, he told his followers on the Telegram private messaging app: "Disappointed to say the least. They (the votes) are not in but they are in ... at the same time what do you expect? Going through the votes we have certainly not got a place as a MEP but I want to say a special thank you to every single person who supported."

He vowed to "carry on fighting" in what he said would be a "long fight".

The Brexit Party won three seats, Labour and the Lib Dems claimed two each and the Green Party secured one seat in the region.

Journalist Rachel Johnson, whose brother Boris - the former Foreign Secretary - is running to be Conservative Party leader, did not get elected as a Change UK candidate.

Change UK finished in seventh place in South West England with 46,612 votes, which meant no candidates for the new party were elected.

YouTuber Carl Benjamin, who was second on Ukip's South West regional list, also failed to get elected.

Mr Benjamin was surrounded in controversy throughout the campaign for comments he made about Labour MP Jess Phillips.

The 39-year-old who styles himself online as the "Sargon of Akkad" said he "wouldn't even rape" the Labour MP and refused to apologise for the remarks.

In the South West, Ukip received 53,739 votes which meant the party lost its two MEPs there, down 29.07% on the 2014 vote.

Former Labour cabinet minister Lord Adonis also lost his bid to become an MEP in the South West region.

The Labour Party lost their only seat in the South West region, as the party polled fifth with 108,100 votes, down 7.26% on the 2014 vote.