Brexit Party – Who are Nigel Farage’s candidates and why did he stand 300 down?
NIGEL Farage's Brexit Party WAS competing for nearly every constituency in the country.
But as the General Election fast approaches he's stood down over 300 candidates. Here's why and who's standing.
Who are Nigel Farage's Brexit Party candidates?
There has been growing speculation over the identity of 600 new Brexit Party candidates, the majority who will be standing for the first time ever on December 12.
The official list was announced on November 4, but details of the 600 haven't been made available to the public.
Nigel Farage himself will not be standing in the upcoming poll, saying he wanted to spend more time campaigning nationwide.
Why did Farage stand 300 candidates down?
Farage has pulled Brexit Party candidates from fighting the election in 317 seats - giving Boris Johnson a clear shot at a majority.
Bowing to huge pressure the Brexit Party boss insisted that he will launch all out war on Labour instead, giving Tories who won a seat in 2017 a free run.
The Brexit Party boss said at a press conference that denying Tory votes would lead to more Liberal Democrat MPs who would push a second referendum.
He said: "By giving Boris half a chance, our action prevents [that] from happening.
"That right now is the single most important thing.
"In essence - we have a Leave alliance, but we have done it unilaterally.
"We have to put country before party and put the fight to Labour."
He had promised to put up 600 candidates in almost every area across the country, but now he will give the Tories a good chance of winning.
What is the Brexit Party and how are they polling?
The Brexit Party was only established in January 2019, but made inroads at the European elections in May.
Millions of voters deserted the two main parties and flocked to Mr Farage in a bid to send the message: "Get Brexit done or die."
In this already unpredictable upcoming election, it is not yet clear how far the single-issue party will fare,
Farage - whose bid for a "Brexit alliance" with the Tories was knocked back by Boris Johnson - has said he will only talk about Brexit-related issues until the UK has left the EU.
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At the time of writing, William Hill was offering 66/1 odds for a Brexit Party majority.
But even winning a single seat would mark a significant change to the Commons.
Farage said he believed that a hung Parliament was a "likely" result from the December 12 election - and could provide a chance for his party.
"If the Brexit Party get a reasonable amount of people in there, they could exert a great influence," Farage told ITV.
"Mrs May was kept in power by 10 DUP MPs."