Eurovision 2019: UK's bottom-place entry has score lowered by 5 points after miscalculation

The Netherlands remain at the top, with their score increasing by six

The UK’s Eurovision score has been lowered following a miscalculation.

Michael Rice’s song “Bigger Than Us” came last in the competition, with the track initially scoring just 16 points.

The contest organisers have since said that an incorrect calculation was made after they created a set of “substitute” points for the Belarusian jury, who were dismissed following the semifinals.

The UK’s score now stands at 11 points. The Netherlands remains at the top of the board with 498 points.

Belarus’s judges were unable to vote in the competition finale after they revealed their semifinal results to the public – something that’s against the rules.

To comply with the way the contest is run, a substitute set of points, calculated based on the results of other countries with similar voting records, was used.

However, the substitute set of votes were found to be wrong due to human error, leading to a drop in the UK’s score.

A statement from the organisers reads: “The EBU and its partners deeply regret that this error was not identified earlier and will review the processes and controls in place to prevent this from happening again.”

Although Rice came last, the UK entrant remained positive, saying: ”I’m so thankful to the fans... as well as my whole team who have supported me throughout this whole amazing journey.”

Read The Independent’s Eurovision coverage here.