Farage’s Brexit Party gearing up for landslide victory in EU election as Tories sink – poll
Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party has jumped to a double-digit lead over its closest rival, Labour, in the upcoming European election, and has three times the support of the Conservatives, who continue to lose ground, a poll has found.
With the EU Parliament elections set for May 23 inching closer, Farage’s anti-EU party has taken a pole position, leading with 34 percent thanks to 6 point increase in voter support from two weeks ago, a new Opinium poll commissioned by the Observer has revealed.
While the Brexit Party and Labour shared the first place with 28 percent in the last poll, James Corbyn’s party has since lost 7 points, while Farage’s newest political creation shot ahead and is now separated from its closest pursuer by a 13-percent gap.
Support for the Tories continues hurtling downward. According to the Opinium poll, Prime Minister Theresa May’s party is down three points and occupies the fourth place with 11 percent, behind the Brexit Party, Labour and now the Liberal Democrats. The latter have gained five points and are now at 12 percent.
The Brexit Party is making similarly massive gains in general election polls. At 21 percent, it has almost caught up with the Tories, who have just one percentage point more.
While the Brexit Party is still trailing behind Labour in the national polls, the lead held by Corbyn’s party is by no means secure. Now at 28 percent, as it has lost 5 points in the last two weeks.
In light of Farage’s advance and the conventional politics’ retreat, high-profile Tories and Labour have been sounding alarms over the rise of populism embodied by the Brexit firebrand.
In an op-ed published by the Observer on Saturday, former Labour PM Tony Blair urged the Remainers to unite and stop Farage at any cost. “Farage cannot be allowed to dictate Britain’s future. He must be thwarted,” its panicked-sounding headline says. Any party is better than the Brexit Party, Blair pleadingly writes.
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“There are unequivocal remain parties – Liberal Democrats, Change UK, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru. If, because of Labour’s equivocation, you simply won’t vote Labour, then vote for them.”
While some Tory MPs, dissatisfied with May’s failure to deliver Brexit, have indicated they might back Farage in the European elections, and others like Telford MP Lucy Allan, have openly endorsed the Brexit Party’s candidates, Tory chiefs warned MPs that they would be shown the door if they back anyone but their own party. The Sunday Times reported last month that a strong-worded email was sent to MPs noting that “campaigning for or endorsement of any other political party is incompatible with membership of the party.”
Meanwhile, the pressure is mounting for May to step down following a calamitous performance in her local election, the worst for Tories since 1995. May vowed to step down as the party’s leader if her Brexit deal passed by the parliament. Although that has not happen yet, she was called to clarify her resignation date in a meeting with backbench MPs next week.
The Opinium poll was taken online between My 8 and 10 and involved 2,004 respondents.
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