DOWNING Street has insisted it has no interest in an election pact with Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.
The ex-Ukip chief took out a huge advert wrapping around yesterday’s Daily Express to offer to a “non-aggression” deal with Boris Johnson in a General Election.
The Brexit Party said it would not field candidates against the 28 hardline Brexit Tories who support No Deal and voted against Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement all three times it was brought to Parliament.
In return, they would want Johnson not to run in around 90 Leave-voting constituencies that have never backed the Tories and supported the Brexit Party in the European Parliament elections.
Farage claimed the effort could help ward off the threat from a “Remain alliance” of opposition parties who oppose Brexit. The deal, he said, would “destroy Corbyn’s Labour”.
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The seats are spread across south Wales, the Midlands and the north-east of England.
In the advert, the Brexit Party said: “To seal our non-aggression pact, Boris must back a clean-break Brexit and forget about recycling Mrs May’s withdrawal agreement.
“Together we can rout the Remainers and win a big majority in Parliament for Brexit and democracy. Does Boris have the courage?”
A source close to Farage told The Sun: “Nigel has had some conversations with people who are very close to Boris, not MPs or ministers to keep them discreet.
They’re more to scope out whether he’s serious about a deal than actual negotiations, and the Tories appreciate he is. It is a beginning”.
The source added: “It’s very simple, it’s all about the numbers. Boris knows he cannot win a majority without our help”.
Number 10 said the Prime Minister was not interested in the deal. A senior Tory source described Farage and Brexit ally Arron Banks as not being “fit and proper”, and said they should never be “allowed anywhere near” government.
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The row comes amid Brexiteer fears that Johnson could be set to agree some compromise on the backstop with Brussels.
There are suggestions of a an all-Ireland agrifood zone of regulatory alignment, which would, in effect, keep Northern Ireland’s cows, pigs and other livestock in the single market, without putting a border in the Irish Sea.
However, it seems unlikely that it would satisfy either European leaders or the DUP, who have long fiercely resisted any divergence in the province from arrangements in the rest of the UK.
Meanwhile, the UK Government last night released its Operation Yellowhammer paper – detailing what might happen after a No-Deal Brexit – following a vote by MPs. The document, which was leaked last month and shows a “reasonable worst case scenario” for a No-Deal Brexit, says there could be major hold-ups at channel ports, electricity price increases, shortages of some foods and delays to medicine imports.
It also warns of possible protests across the UK. However, the Government said it will not comply with a demand from MPs to release internal correspondence and communications between nine Number 10 advisers relating to Parliament’s suspension.
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