Farage strikes back
Former Ukip leader’s new Brexit Party on course for victory in MEP polls ... even though it was only launched last week
‘Democratic revolution’
NIGEL Farage’s new Brexit Party is on course for a shock win in the European Parliament election, a bombshell poll has revealed.
The party has surged into first place – with a five-point lead over Labour – just days after Mr Farage launched its campaign on Friday.
A YouGov poll put the Brexit Party on 27 per cent, with Labour on 22 per cent and the Conservatives trailing on 15 per cent.
This follows another survey last week that put them at 15 per cent – level-pegging with the Tories on 16 per cent, with Labour leading on 24 per cent.
It will heighten fears among ministers that the Tories are heading for a crushing defeat on May 23 if the poll comes true, which would almost certainly see fresh calls for Theresa May to stand down.
The Prime Minister has said she is determined to get a Brexit deal through Parliament before that date, which would mean voting is cancelled, but it is looking increasingly unlikely.
The latest poll suggests that some of the increase in support for the Brexit Party comes from Ukip voters switching allegiance, with Ukip down from 14 per cent last week to 7 per cent. Mr Farage, who quit Ukip in December, has said he believes ‘middle England, decent people’ will no longer vote for his former party as it has become ‘completely obsessed’ by Islam and now has a ‘fairly loutish fringe’ with links to ‘violence and thuggery’.
Launching his party’s European Parliament election campaign last week, Mr Farage said he wanted to stage a ‘democratic revolution’ against a political class that has betrayed voters as he unveiled candidates including Jacob Rees-Mogg’s sister Annunziata.
Mr Farage, who has placed a £1,000 bet at 3/1 on the Brexit Party getting the most MEPs, said he believed they could win and ‘put the fear of God’ into politicians in Westminster.
In the 2014 European Parliament elections, Ukip gained 11 new MEPs and took 27.5 per cent of the vote. It meant its representation rose to 24 MEPs. Ukip has had more success in Europe thanks to the proportional representation system of voting, rather than first past the post, which is used in UK general elections.
Last night Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice said: ‘Of course we are pleased with the progress we have made in the very short time since our foundation and launch. However it is only one poll, and to us the only poll that counts will be the one on May 23, when people will have the chance to voice their opinion on both the government and the opposition.’
The poll will disappoint The Independent Group, the 11 MPs who defected from Labour and the Tories, as their new party Change UK got just 6 per cent support.
Among other pro-Remain parties, the Greens came top with 10 per cent, followed by the Lib Dems on 9 per cent, and the SNP/Plaid Cymru on 4. Some 1,855 adults were polled.
The People’s Vote campaign for a second referendum, which commissioned the poll, said the findings suggested Labour could curb the Brexit Party’s lead if Jeremy Corbyn backed a public vote on whether to go ahead with Brexit. In those circumstances, support for Labour would rise slightly to 23 per cent, while support for the Brexit Party would fall to 26 per cent.
Dame Margaret Beckett, the former Labour foreign secretary and People’s Vote supporter, said: ‘These elections have proven to be rich hunting grounds for Nigel Farage’s brand of extreme Right-wing politics before and may be again. But the message of this poll is loud and clear: it suggests that if anyone can stop Farage winning it is Labour – and only if we back a people’s vote.’