Farage Plans ‘Northern Attack’ on Brexit Heartland Abandoned by Labour

British politician and The Brexit Party leader, Nigel Farage addresses the first public ra
DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty
Victoria Friedman

Nigel Farage is planning a “northern attack” on Brexit-supporting, Labour-voting constituencies ahead of European Parliament elections after Tom Watson said the Labour Party should officially endorse a second referendum.

Deputy party leader Mr Watson made the comments in an opinion piece published in Sunday’s Observer, where he argued that the only way for Labour to beat Mr Farage’s Brexit Party would be to embrace the “radical alternative” of a confirmatory vote — a second referendum — on any withdrawal agreement.

Calling the prospect a “total insult,” Mr Farage said, “I now intend to wholeheartedly target Labour lies and dishonesty.”

The Brexit Party has already made significant headway in early polling — taking the top spot ahead of Labour and the Tories — notably, taking votes from right-wing voters with 62 per cent of Conservative Party members and 40 per cent of Tory grassroots councillors saying that they will vote for the pro-Brexit party in the European elections.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, the MEP explained, “My real challenge here is not the Conservatives. It’s that there are about 5m people who voted [Jeremy] Corbyn in 2017 and voted Brexit the year before, and I think that’s where I need to be.

“My priority as leader of this party is to go into the Labour heartlands. It’s my intention to go round south Wales, the Midlands, the north, and absolutely lay it out there, the extent to which they are being sold out [on Brexit] by Labour.”

Later addressing his social media followers, he accused Mr Watson of spending too much time in “Islington with the north London champagne set,” and added, “You cannot trust the Labour Party because they are betraying you on Brexit as much as the Tories are.”

Last week, extreme Remainer Lord Adonis, a peer in the House of Lords, was selected as Labour’s South West candidate in the EU elections.

Lord Adonis wrote last month in the New European that he hoped that the EU elections could be used to stop Brexit, and in September told LBC listeners, “If you are a Brexiteer, I hope you won’t vote for the Labour Party because the Labour Party is moving increasingly against Brexit.”

Breitbart London reported on Saturday that the establishment parties on both the left and right are failing to appeal to voters, and while insurgent parties are likely to fill the gap, the support is clearly swinging in favour of pro-Brexit parties. Latest YouGov polling revealed that Mr Farage’s party has 23 per cent, while the pro-Remain Change UK party has just eight per cent.

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