by Edward Howard
BREXIT Party boss Nigel Farage has confirmed in a press event today that his party shall not contest any of the 317 seats that were won by the Conservative Party back in 2017, to give the latter party a better chance of winning the election.
This political move has come after multiple attempts to form a pact, most lately with Farage offering another one the previous Sunday, as revealed by the Sunday Express. Before this, Boris Johnson had rejected such pacts outright, mainly on the grounds that he saw Farage as ‘unfit’ for public office. This was ‘til lately, as Johnson offered an agreement over the issue of Brexit, offering to not extend the transition period beyond 2020, something Farage has heavily criticised in the past.
This also comes in the wake of a similar pact on the side of the pro-Remain political parties, with the likes of the Liberal Democrats, Green Party and Plaid Cyrmu vowing not to run against each other in specific seats.
Such a plan has been discussed by the Brexit Party in the past, especially with internal conflicts over supporting Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, with Farage and other prominent figures being against it, and other supporters being for it, with some standing down from the party over the issue.
Reactions have been mixed. On the one hand, Conservative leader Boris Johnson has celebrated the move, saying that ‘a recognition that there’s only one way to get Brexit done, and that’s to vote for the Conservatives’. The party’s chairman James Cleverly meanwhile warned that there was possible ‘danger’ of splitting the Brexit vote in other seats.
The general election shall take place on the 12th of December 2019.