THE Brexit Party’s only Scottish MEP has launched a furious attack on Nigel Farage’s decision not to stand candidates in the 317 Westminster seats held by the Tories.
Louis Stedman-Bryce, who was also due to contest Labour-held Glasgow North East seat for the party, now says he will no longer stand at the election.
Taking to Twitter, he said:
“I joined the Brexit Party to change politics for good and uphold democracy and I do not trust
@BorisJohnson to deliver the type of Brexit I voted for. I believe that the deal he has proposed would be devastating to our country and our future prosperity.
“So it is with a heavy heart that I have taken the decision not to run in the upcoming General Election. Whilst I supported a localised agreement with the Tories in Scotland to help prevent the onslaught of the SNP, I cannot support standing down PPCs [prospective parliamentary candidate] across all Tory seats.”
A spokesman for the Brexit Party said he didn’t understand
Stedman-Bryce’s logic: “Had Nigel Farage not announced that we wouldn’t contest the 317 constituencies that the Tories won in 2017 there is every chance we would be looking at a far-left Corbyn government. Does Louis want that?”
Les Durance, who was due to contest the Moray seat for the Brexit Party, also said he was “disappointed” by Farage’s decision.
Durance, who will now contest the SNP-held seat of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, added: “I do understand Nigel’s rationale, he has put country before party. In Moray, I suppose the prognosis was that we would have split the vote and possibly allowed the SNP to take the seat.
“It is an enormous concession and I just hope that Boris honours his commitments.”
However, Sebastian Leslie, who was due to run in Gordon for the party, said the strategy was “the best way” to beat the SNP.
He added: “I think it is a very good strategy. Our main opponent is the SNP, who have made it clear that they want to stay in the EU. This is the best way to beat them.”
Speaking to the BBC, Farage called on the Tories to stand down in Labour-held seats that voted to leave in 2016.
Farage said: “I’ve just gifted the Conservative Party nearly two dozen seats and I did it because I believe in Leave. Now if they believed in Leave, what they would do is stand aside in some seats in Labour areas where the Conservative Party has not won for 100 years and will never win.
“I think what you’re seeing from this reaction is for the Conservative Party it is about them as a party, not about delivering Brexit.”
Last night, a YouGov survey for the Times carried out after Farage’s announcement put the Tories on 42% ahead of Labour on 28% and the LibDems on 15%.
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