Nigel Farage says he’ll SPOIL his ballot paper on Thursday rather than back the Tories
NIGEL Farage has revealed that he will spoil his ballot paper at Thursday’s election because he cannot face voting for the Tories.
The Brexit Party leader has not put up candidates in 317 seats currently held by the Conservatives and has been urging voters to back the Tories when they have the best chance of beating Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
At a BBC Under 30s Question Time special last night, Mr Farage said he did not have a Brexit Party candidate standing in his constituency, so would spoil his ballot paper.
He said: “I think you should vote, and spoiling your ballot paper is a form of voting. I would never stay at home.”
Host Emma Barnett challenged him: “You can’t stomach voting for the Conservatives, the only party that you said is going to deliver Brexit?
“If the leader of the Brexit Party can’t support Brexit, what is the point of the leader of the Brexit Party?”
The arch Brexiteer replied: “Because it’s not Brexit. I repeat the point, Boris said he’d pass the oven-ready deal by Christmas.
“If he does that, that is not Brexit. We’ll have years more wrangling, a crisis before next summer.
“This is the Conservatives who, of course, over half the Cabinet voted Remain. They never wanted the Leave result to win, and they’re still, three and a half years on, not giving us what we deserve.”
STAND DOWN
In November, Mr Farage announced that the party would not stand candidates in 317 seats currently held by the Tories, and would instead focus on winning Labour-held constituencies.
The Brexit Party leader said his decision would “give Boris half a chance”, “keep him honest” and “hold him to account”.
He said: “What we will do, is concentrate our total effort into all of the seats that are held by the Labour Party, which have completely broken their manifesto pledge in 2017 to respect the result of the referendum.
“We will also take on the rest of the Remainer establishment.”
Mr Farage has been pushed by his own candidates to stand down in more seats to ensure the Leave vote is not split between the Brexit Party and the Conservatives.
“As every single Conservative Party candidate has pledged to support this deal, why not stand down against every one?
Annunziata Rees-Mogg
In a crushing blow last week, four of Mr Farage’s MEPs resigned from the party, saying that only the Conservatives could realistically deliver Brexit.
Annunziata Rees-Mogg, Lance Forman, John Longworth and Lucy Harris quit to back Boris’s Brexit proposals.
Writing in The Sun on Sunday, Ms Rees-Mogg said: “By fighting Conservatives in marginal, and not so marginal, constituencies he will split the Leave supporters’ votes and let remainer candidates win.
“In early November, Nigel Farage wisely stood down all 317 Brexit Party candidates in seats the Conservatives had won two years ago because Boris Johnson’s deal was good enough not to fight them.
“As every single Conservative Party candidate has pledged to support this deal, why not stand down against every one?
“Why split the vote in seats too close to call or with small margins between a pro-Brexit Tory and a pro-Remain Labour, Lib Dem or SNP candidate?”
At last night’s debate, Mr Farage was mocked for his decision to spoil his ballot. One audience member joked that Mr Farage doesn’t want the Tories to win, because he enjoys being on TV.
“I think that the only reason he opposes the government’s deal is because he likes being on TV”, he said.
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