Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has said EU elections will mark the beginning of a new era in British politics and told MEPs in the European Parliament, “I’m coming back. In fact, lots and lots of us are coming back.”
“The Brexit Party will sweep the board at these elections,” Mr Farage told his colleagues in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
“There is only one way to stop it and that is if the governing party of Mrs May and the Opposition of Mr Corbyn come together and agree to a permanent Customs Union and indeed effectively membership of the Single Market.
“If that happens the Brexit Party won’t win the European Parliament elections, but it will win the general election because the betrayal will be so complete and utter.”
Recent polling revealed that both the Brexit Party and UKIP are positioned third and fourth places, behind Labour and the Tories. Despite being ahead, Labour and Conservative MEP candidates are expected to “perform poorly”, according to YouGov, while Open Europe predicts that Tory numbers will be “significantly squeezed” by the new Brexit Party.
The UK was not meant to be taking part in the May 23rd to 26th European Parliament elections, with the country scheduled to leave the EU on March 29th. However, after Prime Minister Theresa May failed to pass her controversial Withdrawal Agreement she sought one extension of Article 50 to April 12th, then a further to October 31st, resulting in the prime minister confirming earlier this month that the UK would be taking part in the EU-wide polls.
On whether he believed the country would actually leave the EU on Halloween, Mr Farage said, “If it’s left to this appalling prime minister, if it’s left to our politicians in Parliament, I know that this is not going to happen.”
Addressing Eurocrats, the Brexit Party leader said, “In the past, I know I’ve always criticised the power without accountability of senior bureaucrats in Brussels, but for once I have to say, that this mess is not your fault.
“Your position has been clear from the start. The mess is the fault of British politics — where two parties both promised us in their manifestos they would deliver Brexit, who signed up to Article 50 stating we would leave with or without a deal — that is where the betrayal is.”
Mr Farage concluded, “I sense amongst some in my country disillusionment, in others, I sense a burning anger — not one to put on yellow vests to protest but one that says we need a peaceful, political revolution in our country.
“We need to sweep away the two-party system that has let us down very badly, and I think you’re all going to be very surprised by what happens. On May the 23rd, it will be a new future for British democracy and goodness me, it is needed.”