Nigel Farage’s newly-formed Brexit Party have sensationally topped the opinion polls in national elections for the first time, with Nigel Farage hailing it as a “historic moment”.
The poll by Opinium showed that, in the event of a general election, the Brexit Party would be the largest party in Parliament with 26 per cent of the vote.
The Labour Party came second on 22 per cent and the governing Conservative Party in third place on 17 per cent, followed by the Liberal Democrats on 16 per cent. The Green Party received 11 per cent — a significant rise for them from just four per cent in the last Opinium poll.
Meanwhile, the anti-Brexit Change UK (CUK) party achieved just one per cent.
According to an electoral seat calculator, the poll’s results would translate to 306 seats in the House of Commons — only 20 short of a majority — for the Brexit Party, with the Labour Party on 205 seats and the Tories down to just 26 seats.
The new survey results come just a week after the Brexit Party won the European Parliamentary Elections in Britain, and just days after a YouGov poll showed the party in a close second place in a national opinion poll — despite the pollsters hiding them in the “Other” category.
The next test for the Brexit Party, which is only seven weeks old, will be the Peterborough by-election on June 6th. The by-election is being held after the previous MP, formerly of the Labour Party, was recalled by her constituents after being sent to prison for perverting the course of justice.
The Peterborough constituency voted 60.9 per cent to Leave the European Union in 2016, giving the Brexit Party hope of securing their first Member of Parliament.
According to bookmakers, the Brexit Party are the odds-on favourites to win the parliamentary seat, with their candidate Mike Greene becoming the first MP in the party’s short history.
In a bid to avoid splitting the notionally Brexit-leaning vote, Mr Farage has urged Conservative voters to back the Brexit Party to beat Labour.
“The Tory party in Peterborough are nowhere. But Labour have a massive election machine and they are throwing everything at this, and I mean everything,” he said.
“Our key message these last few days to Conservative voters in the north of the constituency, is vote Conservative, get Corbyn,” he added, in reference to the party’s hard-left leader.
“Only the Brexit Party can beat Labour here”
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