Nigel Farage: Brexit Party will stand in hundreds of seats unless Boris Johnson dumps Withdrawal Agreement
4 min read
The Brexit Party will stand against Tories in hundreds of seats unless Boris Johnson agrees to dump his new Withdrawal Agreement, Nigel Farage has declared.
The former Ukip boss said his new outfit would stand aside in dozens of Conservative target seats as part of a formal "Leave alliance".
But he insisted the Brexit deal which Mr Johnson struck with Brussels last month would need to be ditched in return for his party's help at the polls.
Speaking at his party's campaign launch in Westminster on Friday, Mr Farage described the Prime Minister's deal as a "sellout" and insisted the Government should instead go for a "clean break" with the EU.
Addressing the PM directly, he said: "Drop the deal. Drop the deal because it is not Brexit. Drop the deal because as these weeks go by and people discover what it is you've signed up to, they will not like it.
"And I also am more than willing to compromise my position. I've been saying for months that we need to go for a clean break Brexit, and I've been saying that because it was the only way of delivering Brexit on the 31 October.
"But, if Boris said that he now wanted to go down the route of a genuine free trade agreement, along the lines perhaps of Canada or other models, and in doing so he would not sign us up to political linkage, he would not continue the continued jurisdiction of the ECJ, that he would simply go for a free trade deal, he'd give a deadline of the 1 July....
"If Boris was to go along with that, I would view that as being a totally reasonable position. And in the interests of building a Leave alliance, I would be more than happy to back that."
Mr Farage said he would give Boris Johnson a two-week deadline to agree to the pact or face Brexit Party candidates standing in every constituency in England, Scotland and Wales.
That would be a huge headache for Mr Johnson, with the possibility of the pro-Brexit vote being split and letting in candidates from other parties.
Mr Farage added: "Please don't doubt that we are ready. Don't underestimate our determination or our organisation. Indeed, next Monday we have 500 candidates coming to London and they will all be signing their candidate forms on that day."
But Conservative Party chairman James Cleverly was quick to rubbish the idea of a pact with Mr Farage, saying: “A vote for Farage risks letting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street via the back door - and the country spending 2020 having two referendums on Brexit and Scottish independence.
"It will not get Brexit done - and it will create another gridlocked Parliament that doesn’t work.”
The offer came after US President Donald Trump said a pact between Mr Farage and the Prime Minister would create an "unstoppable force".
In an extraordinary intervention, the American leader told Mr Farage on his LBC show that Mr Johnson's current deal could scupper a free-trade deal between the UK and the US if it was passed by Parliament.
"He’s in a very difficult position, and I think he’s doing what nobody else was willing to do.
“I also think he’s looking at the United States because we can do much more on trade.”
He added: “We want to do trade with UK, and they want to do trade with us.
“And to be honest with you under certain aspects of this deal, you can’t do it, you can’t trade.”
The President went on: “We can’t make a trade deal with the UK.
“I think we can do many times the numbers that we’re doing right now, and certainly much bigger numbers than you’re doing under the European Union.
“Boris wants to be very careful with that, because under certain ways we’re precluded, which would be ridiculous."
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