Brexit Party unveils first 100 general election candidates as Nigel Farage vows to fight Tories and Labour for EVERY seat
NIGEL Farage today unveiled his first 100 general election candidates as he launched audacious bid to lead the Brexit Party into Number 10.
The former UKIP chief introduced his would-be MPs to rapturous applause at a 5,000-strong Brexit rally in Birmingham.
He boasted: "By the end of next week we will have 650 approved prospective parliamentary candidates.
"There is a big message that Westminster needs to hear - we are not a protest movement."
The candidates include teachers, economist, and a forklift driver - but the party refused to reveal their names.
Farage, 55, also revealed plans for a £200 billion investment in the regions as the Brexit Party prepares to fight a possible general election before the end of the year.
The announcement is the first major policy pledge by the former UKIP leader's new party.
The pledge will be targeted chiefly at areas of the country outside of London, where many of the strongest Leave-supporting communities are concentrated.
It will include plans to rebuild transport systems and provide free wi-fi on all buses and trains outside London as well as free, fast broadband in every home.
The Brexit Party won the European elections in May with 30.5 per cent of the vote, having been formed only weeks before.
Their success has been attributed to the failure of the Conservative Party so far to withdraw Britain from the European Union.
ELECTION INEVITABLE
The ongoing impasse in parliament, where the government has been unable to persuade a majority of MPs to back any one way forward, has led many to believe the country is heading for a general election.
Some cabinet ministers are reported to believe an election is now "almost inevitable".
Senior figures in the Brexit Party have told the Sunday Express that they will be ready to fight an election by the end of July.
The party claims it will soon have campaign teams and regional operations to rival the largest parties in Westminster.
Farage has stood for parliament seven times in the past without success, but his new party recently performed well in a by-election in the midlands constituency of Peterborough.
The by-election was triggered by a successful recall petition against Labour MP Fiona Onasanya.
Labour received 10,484 votes to hold the seat, but now have a majority of only 683, the Brexit Party having received 9,801 votes.
The Conservatives face the possibility of a defeat in an upcoming by-election in the Welsh constituency of Brecon and Radnorshire.
That by-election was also triggered by a recall petition against the sitting MP, Chris Davies, but the party has chosen to put Mr Davies forward as their candidate again.
One cabinet minister told the Express: "The problem is that some of my Remainer colleagues will support a vote of no confidence in Boris.
"If we lose the by-election in Wales we will have a majority of just two, even with the DUP, so it will only take one or two [Remainer Conservative] MPs to support the vote and we are facing an election.”
Leading Remain-supporting backbencher Dominic Grieve said last week he estimated that ten of his Conservative colleagues could support a no-confidence vote against the government were it to pursue a no-deal Brexit.
'CONSERVATIVES COULD KICK THE BUCKET'
Speaking at a hustings for the Tory leadership in Carlisle yesterday, Mr Johnson warned of the threat of the Brexit Party.
"If we kick the can down the road we [the Tories] will kick the bucket," he said.
The Party rally taking place in Birmingham today has already seen more than 5,000 tickets sold.
The party also says that in office it would remove business rates for new high street businesses outside London and cancel the interest on all student loans.
Farage told the Sunday Express: “For years now, London has thrived while the rest of the country has been left behind.
"That’s why the Brexit Party will carry out the largest regional investment since the end of the Second World War, using the Brexit dividend to invest in the rest.
“Labour has become the party of North London, not the North of England, and the European election results show that the Labour heartlands have become the Brexit heartlands.
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“They say it’s a postcode lottery, but a lottery only works if everybody has the same chance of winning. How can it be a lottery if there is no chance of winning?”
The investment in UK regions would be 2.5 times the level spent on rebuilding post-Second World War Europe.
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