Leave group hailed by Farage raises £100,000 in week
A EUROSCEPTIC campaign group recently joined by Nigel Farage is building a £5million war chest to fight the “dilution” of Brexit.
The Sunday Telegraph understands that Leave Means Leave has already raised around £100,000 in small donations from the public in the past week, after an announcement that it had recruited the former Ukip leader as its vice-chairman. Writing for telegraph. co.uk John Longworth, the group’s chairman, said it had received a “huge swathe” of donations to take on the campaign to remain in the EU, which is bankrolled by George Soros, the billionaire investor.
Mr Longworth said the fundraising drive was partly a result of the Government’s decision to press ahead with the “diluted” Brexit blueprint agreed by the Cabinet at Chequers, Theresa May’s country retreat, which he said “amounts to a fraud on the 17.4million people who voted for Brexit and the many Remainers who have now decided that we must get on and leave the EU”.
Leave Means Leave is planning to hold rallies across the country to encourage members of the public to ask MPs to block the plan.
Mr Farage will address the first rally in Bolton on Sept 22, having declared last week that he was returning to frontline politics to help spearhead the campaign. He said: “Our political class do not accept our decision and every attempt is being made to dilute, delay or even overturn our decision. Our task is to mobilise the millions of alienated and angry voters, and to get them to put real pressure on their MPs not to betray Brexit in the coming months.”
In a letter to Conservative members, Mrs May insisted her plan, which is being negotiated with Brussels, “honours the result of the referendum” and would lead to the UK taking back control of its borders, money and laws.
Theresa May has ordered Cabinet ministers to clear their diaries for Sept 13 for a summit to prepare for a no-deal Brexit it was reported last night. Ministers will work on a plan to pump fresh cash into key areas, The Sunday Times reported, amid fears that a Cabinet row between Remainers and Brexiteers will undermine Mrs May’s Brexit plans.