General election 2019: A simple guide to the Brexit Party
- Published
The Brexit Party is a new party set up to make sure the UK leaves the EU and to "change British politics for good".
Who is the leader?
Nigel Farage. The 55-year-old former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) has been a member of the European Parliament for 20 years. He has stood unsuccessfully for the British Parliament seven times and has opted not to make another attempt this time. As UKIP leader, he was instrumental in securing the 2016 Brexit referendum and played a leading role in the winning campaign.
What does it need to do to win the election?
As a new party, it has no MPs and has never contested a general election before, although it was the clear winner in May's European elections, with 32% of the UK vote.
It hopes to gain enough MPs on 12 December to put pressure on the next government to ensure the UK leaves the EU.
The party had planned to stand in 600 of the 650 constituencies after its offer, to stand aside in many seats to help the Conservatives if Boris Johnson scrapped his Brexit deal with the EU, was rejected by the Conservative leader.
But Mr Farage has now said the party will not stand candidates in any seat won by the Conservatives at the 2017 general election. Instead, it will focus its resources on seats held by Labour and Remain-supporting parties.
Five key election pledges
The Brexit Party published what it called a "contact with the people", external, instead of a manifesto, on 22 November. It sets out the policies it wants to see introduced by the next UK government.
Here are five policies that featured in it:
Having a "clean-break" Brexit and negotiating a free trade agreement with the EU
Scrapping inheritance tax
Phasing out the BBC licence fee
Abolishing the House of Lords
Replacing the first-past-the-post electoral system with proportional representation
Where does it stand on Brexit?
The Brexit Party wants the UK to leave the EU without a deal, in what it calls a "clean-break Brexit", which it says would make good on the result of the 2016 EU referendum.
It says Boris Johnson's revised Brexit plan is a bad deal, because it would still involve paying the EU a £39bn settlement.
What else does it stand for?
The party is not publishing a detailed programme for government but it is campaigning for reform of the UK's political system and policies, to make the most of the economic benefits it says will flow from Brexit.
Brexit Party policy in a tweet
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How many members does it have?
The party has no members, only registered supporters. In June 2019, Mr Farage said the party had 115,000 registered supporters.
What is the Brexit Party's history?
Born out of frustration with delays to the UK's departure from the EU, the Brexit Party was launched in April 2019, with ex-UKIP leader Mr Farage coming out of retirement to lead it.
It is not a successor to UKIP, despite many of UKIP's supporters and candidates defecting to it. UKIP also favours a "clean-break" Brexit and is planning to stand in the general election.