No deal, no problem, Farage tells EU ‘gangsters’

Nigel Farage has branded the EU “gangsters” as he kicked off a campaign to block a “Brexit betrayal”.

The former Ukip leader, sharing a platform with former Tory Brexit secretary David Davis and Labour Brexiteer MP Kate Hoey, also said it is time the UK’s own politicians “began to feel the heat” over attempts, he claimed, to overturn the referendum vote.

Mr Farage was speaking before 1,000 cheering supporters at the first Leave Means Leave rally in Bolton.

The crowd, waving mini Union Jack flags, heard all three speakers implore them to stick with Brexit as mentions of EU leaders Donald Tusk and Michel Barnier, former prime minister Tony Blair and the BBC were loudly booed.

And to cheers and applause, the “gangsters” and “bully boys” of the EU were told to “read some history books” about how Britain reacts “when we are up against it”.

Mr Farage said out-of-touch “career politicians” do not want to respect the referendum vote to leave the EU and a renewed, cross-party campaign was needed to stay on course for Brexit and counter the “negative” narrative in the media.

He said of the EU: “They are a bunch of gangsters. We will explain a free trade deal is possible, if that’s what the gangsters in Brussels want.

“If they don’t, that is fine, if they don’t we will leave with no deal. No deal, no problem.

“I think it’s about time that our elected politicians began to feel the heat over the extent of the betrayal.”

Mr Farage told supporters to “queue up outside the constituency offices” of MPs to tell them to deliver Brexit.

He continued: “It is my first day back on the political stage. Today is the re-launch, today is the rebirth of the people’s army that gave us Brexit.”

Mr Farage said Prime Minister Theresa May’s Chequers plan for Brexit was “dead” following the debacle in Salzburg when EU leaders told her it was unworkable.

He said the plan was “Brexit in name only” and while not Mrs May’s “biggest fan”, he berated the EU on how she was treated.

Mr Farage added: “I will be damned if we should allow foreign, unelected bureaucrats to treat our Prime Minister like that.”

The UK Government’s plan for Brexit was agreed by the Cabinet at the Prime Minister’s country residence, Chequers, on July 6.

It includes an end to the free movement of people, a free trade area for goods under a “common rulebook” and a “facilitated customs arrangement” which aims to maintain easy trade in goods between the UK and the EU whilst allowing Britain to develop an independent trade policy with the rest of the world.

The plans prompted Mr Davis to resign from the Cabinet.

Mr Davis said the plan was a “fudge” but told the rally he viewed the treatment of Mrs May “with contempt” and said “bad manners and discourtesy are not the hallmarks of great men”.

He continued: “And if you think you can bully our country, all I can suggest is that you read some history books.”

Mr Davis claimed the EU was willing to accept a free trade deal with the UK, on the lines agreed with Canada; no freedom of movement, no tariffs and no court oversight.

He added: “We are standing on the brink of an historic change. All we need is the courage to reclaim our birthright.

“To govern our own country, to make our own laws and to determine our own destiny.”

Ms Hoey, who is facing deselection from her local constituency party, said: “My country comes before my party.”

She said she was angry and would not let the referendum result be “stolen” by a second “People’s Vote” amid the “patronising voices of the mainly London establishment”.

Ms Hoey added: “We’ve had the vote, we don’t want another vote, we don’t need another vote, we just want to leave.”

The MP for Vauxhall, London, said Brussels had never negotiated Brexit in “good faith”.

She added: “They underestimate how strong we are when we are up against it.”

The rally at the University of Bolton Stadium is the first in a number of events across the country organised by Leave Means Leave, the pressure group campaigning for a “clean, swift exit” from the EU.

There will be a major rally in Birmingham on September 30, ahead of the Conservative Party conference in the city, with more events planned in Torquay, Bournemouth, Gateshead and Harrogate during October.