NIGEL FARAGE has told Boris Johnson to ditch his deal with the EU or face a challenge from the Brexit Party in “every single seat in England, Scotland and Wales”.
If the Prime Minister gives into Farage’s demand, then he has promised to form a “non-aggression pact” with the Tories, and stand candidates down in seats with Brexiteer MPs.
Downing Street have rejected the ex-Ukipper’s ultimatum.
Launching his party’s General Election campaign in Westminster, Farage said his “very big, generous offer” was a “one-off opportunity”.
Farage said: “Of course, I’m open and flexible to local exceptions and already we are in communication with a number of MPs who are prepared to renounce the Withdrawal Agreement, to renounce the deal, and they themselves to stand on a ticket of a genuine free trade agreement or leave on WTO terms.
“And of course in those cases where MPs say this, we will view them as our friends and not as our enemies, but that is not the real deal. The real deal is a Leave alliance that wins a big majority in Parliament.”
READ MORE: Ruth Davidson still the face of Scottish Tory election campaign
The Brexit party have so far named candidates in 15 of Scotland’s 59 constituencies, taking on the formerly Remain-supporting incumbent MP Paul Masterton in East Renfrewshire, and the Leave backing John Lamont in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, Colin Clark in Gordon, and Stephen Kerr in Stirling.
They have already been forced to ditch their candidate in Moray, Mark Nash, after The National uncovered blog posts in which he called for mosques to be bulldozed and for the “cancer” of Islam in the UK to be “crushed out of existence”.
The party has organised rallies for next Saturday in Inverness and Peterhead with guest speakers including former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe.
A planned rally with Farage in Dundee in September was cancelled.
Interim Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw, who was unveiling the party’s latest election campaign advert in Aberdeen, dismissed the possibility of an alliance.
“I just think politics in Scotland are different,” he said.
“Because Nicola Sturgeon is making independence the central issue of this campaign, that’s not something the Brexit Party can do anything to stop.
“You need to elect a strong Conservative government, with Conservatives from Scotland part of it.
“If you want to stop that second Scottish independence referendum, the Brexit Party aren’t going to be able to do that, only the Conservatives can do that.
“That’s who people have to support to tell Nicola Sturgeon and make her think again.”
Carlaw also said he would not be in favour of his party entering into an alliance with any opposition parties.
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Aberdeen South Tory MP and staunch Brexiteer Ross Thomson agreed.
He said: “I don’t believe in doing deals. I know that Jeremy Corbyn is looking at one with Nicola Sturgeon on the basis of allowing a second independence referendum.
“I think parties need to stand on their own records and their own merits and make sure they’re not doing anything where they could sometimes take away choice from voters.”
Responding to Farage’s offer, the SNP’s Alyn Smith warned voters of the growing “threat of an extreme right-wing alliance”.
He added: “Only a vote for the SNP will stop Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage imposing a damaging right-wing Brexit upon us, and protect Scotland’s right to choose its own future with independence.
“Scotland can do so much better than a broken Brexit Britain where our views are ignored, our interests side-lined, and our future dictated by the likes of Nigel Farage.”
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