Nigel Farage has said Britain’s decision to quit the European Union has been vincidated by the fact that the UK’s economy continues to outstrip those of France and Germany.
And the former Brexit Party leader has pointed out that even the Governor of the Bank of England now agrees the City of London runs more smoothly outside the bloc.
Mr Farage, who caused a stir with his appearance at the Conservative Party Conference earlier this week, was responding to claims by Anne Diamond on GB News show that he was responsible for Britain being “broken” as a result of his fight to take the nation out of the EU.
He admitted Brexit had been a “disappointment”, pointing to the sharp increase in boats filled with asylum seekers crossing the English Channel despite Britain’s departure, with the figure for 2023 passing 25,000 last week.
With Reform UK, the successor to the Brexit Party he once led, staging its annual conference this week, Mr Farage said: “Boris Johnson had the world at his feet, there was so much he could do, but frankly it has been chaos”, he said.
With Reform UK, the successor to the Brexit Party he once led, staging its annual conference this week, Mr Farage said: “Boris Johnson had the world at his feet, there was so much he could do, but frankly it has been chaos”, he said.
“Reform UK does not have a high recognition but we understand that. This is broken Britain, it is in need of great reform.
“The party is going to get millions of votes, and the real opportunity is this whole legal net migration.
“We will never deal with the Channel crisis while we’re part of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
“This wasn’t even mentioned by Rishi Sunak or Suella Braverman during their conference speeches.”
Neverthless, he continued: “Despite our problems, our GDP figures since leaving the EU are higher than France’s and way higher than Germany’s.”
“You can see with this summit that has been happening in Spain, they’re warring with each other in the European Union.”
He added: “Even the Governor of the Bank of England, and I’m not a fan of Andrew Bailey, said Brexit has made managing the city easier than it was in the EU.
“Broken Britain is about the population crisis. It is about our public services.
“We don’t have the schools, the hospitals, the houses, the roads to deal with it.
“This has not been discussed or debated by anybody, and we’re going to make some noise about it.”
Mr Farage also addressed suggestions he might be tempted to rejoin the Conservative Party.
Speaking of his conference experience, he said: “It was interesting. I was amazed to see so many young delegates at the conference, I really was.
“I seem to be very popular with them. It seems like they, and some of the older delegates are rather like a lost tribe. They want to believe in a Conservative party. But they’re not quite sure what it really stands for anymore.
“I haven’t been to the Tory party conference for a very, very long time, not since the eighties.
“I was fascinated to go and meet the delegates. And what was interesting was that the real energy was on the fringe. Most of the speeches in the hall were pretty dull.”
Meanwhile Richard Tice, likewise a GB News presenter and the leader of Reform UK, of which Mr Farage is now a member, believes the Tories are trying to copy his party’s policies, especially in the wake of Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s “hurricane” warning during her conference speech.
He told the BBC: “Imitation is a great form of flattery and what’s happened is they are terrified of the number of people up and down the country who recognise that we actually stand up for the common sense solutions to the massive challenges that have resulted from Tory mismanagement.”
