Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
broken clouds
weather
OMAN
23°C / 23°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Farage’s party aims for first UK MP in by-election

1236108
1236108
minus
plus

London: Fresh from its victory in European polls, Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party is hoping to win its first seat in Britain’s parliament on Thursday in a by-election in Peterborough.


The poll in the eastern English cathedral city was triggered after the sitting MP, Fiona Onasanya, was dumped by voters after being jailed for lying over a speeding offence.


The Brexit Party, formed by eurosceptic figurehead Farage only a few months ago, secured 38 per cent of the vote in Peterborough in May 23 elections for the European Parliament.


It is seeking to capitalise on that momentum as well as voter disillusionment with the main Conservative and Labour parties, who have historically shared the seat.


Both traditional parties were punished in the European polls for the political chaos over Brexit, which has forced out Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May.


Onasanya was a Labour MP, winning in 2017 with 48 per cent of the vote, but was expelled following her conviction.


The party is fighting hard to keep the seat and while the bookmakers have the Brexit Party as the favourite, Farage has a battle on his hands.


In the European polls, Labour came second with 17 per cent of the vote followed by the pro-European Liberal Democrats on 15 per cent and the Conservatives level with the Greens on 11 per cent.


But elections for the Westminster parliament often yield different results, and Farage has been disappointed before.


His former party, the UK Independence Party (UKIP), triumphed in 2014 European polls but won only one UK parliament seat in a general election a year later.


May is stepping down after delaying Brexit twice as she tried and failed to get her EU divorce deal through parliament.


Farage, who has called for Britain to leave the bloc without a deal, said the by-election outcome could top the European result.


“Our political establishment were absolutely mortified by what happened,” he said while campaigning in Peterborough last weekend.


“But in some ways what happens here on Thursday is even bigger... the opportunity for the next chapter in this great story.”


The Brexit Party’s candidate is Mike Greene, a local businessman. The Labour candidate is the Unite trade union activist Lisa Forbes.


Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has visited the city, saying the party’s campaign was about local issues and climate change.


“We take that core Labour message out to all the (front) doors, of bringing our society and our community together... to ensure we maintain that trading relationship with our nearest neighbours in Europe and to ensure that we get a Labour government at the end of this,” he said.


Fifteen candidates are standing. Four pro-EU parties were planning to field a joint ‘Remain’ candidate — Femi Oluwole, a campaigner for a new Brexit referendum.


During the 2016 Brexit referendum, 62 per cent in the wider Peterborough area voted to leave the EU.


But it has long been a swing seat. Onasanya only won in 2017 by 607 votes, from the Conservative Stewart Jackson, who had been the MP since 2005.


The 35-year-old lawyer was sentenced in January to three months in prison for perverting the course of justice.


She was released on licence after four weeks and returned to sit in parliament as an independent MP, wearing an electronic surveillance tag.


Under a new law introduced in 2015, her conviction triggered a recall petition.


The polls were set to close at 10:00 pm (2100 GMT) and the by-election result expected early today. — AFP


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon