Even the situation is absurd: while the country seeks a way out of the EU, the parties must make EU election campaign. That comes before all the parties on the edge of good.
Nigel Farage is back. The old EU skeptic will probably win with his Brexit party the election for European Parliament in the UK. Surveys predict more than 30 percent of the vote for the party founded by Farage just a few weeks ago. He says:
„The truth is that we are deliberately cheated that our trust will be disappointed by the two mainstream parties.“ Theresa May wants us to simply replace an EU treaty with another EU treaty, and has negotiated a deal that the worst in the entire story. “
The populist had won these elections five years ago, at that time with the UKIP, the 2014 strongest British party. But the UKIP has now drifted far into the far-right camp and has no chance, while Farage’s start-up is more moderate and fiercely fished in the camp of Theresa May Conservatives.
Well-known conservatives as candidates
Farage receives support from members of the conservatives in Devon, where Farage is already campaigning vigorously. „We just do not know what we’re all about, and if I’m to continue supporting Theresa May, then she has to finally get Brexit going, and these EU elections will be a disaster for us,“ says Philip. Chris is also a member of the party. He adds, „The EU election is the only way to express our anger at being ignored.“
Farage has managed to make well-known conservatives candidates for the Brexit party for the EU election. Annunziata Rees-Mogg, for example, the sister of the conservative Brexit hardliner Jacob Rees-Mogg. Or the eloquent Tory legend Anne Widdecombe, whom Farage has now reactivated. „We owe it to future generations to live in a free, self-governing country, not a vassal state,“ says the former Conservative, now running for the Brexit party, to enthusiastic supporters in Newport, Cornwall.
Big parties struggle with election campaigns
The conservatives themselves, totally divided, would prefer to boycott the EU election: May’s ruling party does not even plan a kick-off rally. The opposition Labor Party is almost as hard with this election: A first leaflet was again pulped, because hardly a candidate wanted to come before the voters.
On the other side of the spectrum, the EU’s friends are trying to make this election a second referendum: the Liberal Democrats and the Greens trust in the tailwind of the surprising success in the local elections.
Change UK relies on protestors
The new party Change UK, founded by frustrated conservative and Labor MPs, also relies on protest voters from the camp of EU supporters. Ex-Tory MP Heidi Allen called for a new referendum in Bristol’s Change UK election campaign launch to keep the country in the European Union.
Thousands had applied in recent weeks to run for Change UK. The list includes celebrities such as former BBC presenter Gavin Esler, who summarized his program: stopping Brexit, revamping Britain, and reforming the EU.
If the British actually go to the EU election on May 23, the result will probably be a debacle for the fractious and hesitating big parties, for the Conservatives and for Labor. The British are likely to vote massively for Farage’s Brexit party or the EU supporters of Liberal Democrats, Greens and Change UK.
