Nigel Farage: 'There will be no Brexit without the Brexit Party'
Nigel Farage has said the only to achieve Brexit is to vote for the Brexit Party, as he launched their General Election campaign.
The Brexit Party leader told party candidates that Boris Johnson's Withdrawal Agreement "is not Brexit" and is a "sell-out."
He said a free trade deal with the European Union would rely on staying in the Common Fisheries Policy, adhering to the block's state aid rules and paying almost double the £39 billion currently negotiated as a divorce fee.
"Even if we get that free trade deal, I think it will hinder us from getting free trade deals (with other counties)," Mr Farage said.
He urged the public to back the party as "there will be no Brexit without the Brexit Party", which received a rapturous round of applause.
Mr Farage said the party has "reset the political agenda" in the UK, as he attacked Mr Johnson and Theresa May over their handling of Brexit.
"[Mr Johnson] says vote for this treaty and we will 'Get Brexit Done', now that is a very tempting slogan on a public who after three and half years of this progress have just about had enough," the Brexit leader said.
"The problem is, it doesn't get Brexit done."
Before Mr Farage took to the stage, Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice said the main parties were feeling the "pressure" from the fledgling outfit.
He told the 600 parliamentary candidates at a rally in Westminster: "The Tories are reeling from the pressure put on by the Brexit Party."
Mr Tice added: "We know they are not the Brexit Party - far from it.
"We stand for a proper clean Brexit. We stand for doing the job properly, not some dodgy con trick that we fear the Tories are trying to bring on the country."
Earlier on Monday, Mr Farage said his Brexit Party will hurt Labour in “the most extraordinary way” in the upcoming General Election.
He has been accused by furious Tories of putting Brexit at risk with his plans to run candidates in more than 600 constituencies in the poll on December 12.
The Leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg warned the Brexit Party leader was in danger of snatching "defeat from the jaws of victory" if he persisted with his plan.
However Mr Farage - who was previously the leader of Ukip - said that his "number one target" would be Labour Leave voters who had been "completely betrayed" by their party.
He told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "I led Ukip into the 2015 general election. I had all the same stuff, all the same arguments."
He added: "The Tory tribe screaming and shouting, 'Don’t take our votes'."
"The Ukip vote took more votes from Labour than it did from the Conservatives, (David) Cameron wouldn’t have even got a majority without Ukip.
"We are going to hurt the Labour Party in the most extraordinary way. We’ll do it in South Wales, we’ll do it in the Midlands, we’ll do it in the north of England."
“Those Labour voters have been completely betrayed by the Labour Party. They are my number one target. I got those votes in 2015, I’ll do it again.”
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Boris Johnson last week rejected Mr Farage’s offer of a pact with the Tories if he dropped his Brexit deal.
Mr Farage, who even won support from US president Donald Trump for his proposal of and alliance, argued the Prime Minister’s agreement with Brussels did not represent a true break with the EU.
However Mr Rees-Mogg insisted the deal was a "complete Brexit" and that Mr Farage should recognise the time had come to “retire from the field”.
"I think he would be well-advised to recognise that that battle he won. He should be really proud of his political career," he told LBC radio.
"It would be a great shame if he carries on fighting after he has already won to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
"I understand why Nigel Farage would want to carry on campaigning because he has been campaigning for the best part of 30 years and it must be hard to retire from the field. But that is what he ought to do."
Mr Farage also came under fire from Steve Baker, the leader of the pro-Brexit Tory European Research Group, who warned he risked another hung parliament through "dogmatically pursuing purity".
"That’s the irony of Nigel Farage. He risks being the man who hands Boris a weak and indecisive parliament, and bringing about, therefore, his own worst fears," Mr Baker told The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Farage, who is set to unveil his party’s candidates at an event on Monday in London, defended his decision not to stand himself in the election.
"I did have a serious go in 2015. I finished up spending way too much of my time in that constituency and not out around the country. I’m not making that mistake again," he said.
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