Eurosceptic and far-right parties have seized ground in elections to the European parliament, in what France's PM called a "political earthquake".

The French National Front and UK Independence Party both performed strongly, while the three big centrist blocs in parliament all lost seats.

The outcome means a greater say for those who want to cut back the EU's powers, or abolish it completely.

But EU supporters will be pleased that election turnout was slightly higher.

It was 43.1%, according to provisional European Parliament figures. That would be the first time turnout had not fallen since the previous election - but would only be an improvement of 0.1%.

Source: BBC