In a shock announcement, leader of the Brexit Party Nigel Farage said he won’t stand against seats the Conservative Party won in the last election when the country goes to the polls on 12 December.

The Conservative Party won 317 seats in the 2017 general election – 19 of which were London constituencies.

Farage said the party will concentrate on taking seats from the Labour Party, but will still compete in swing seats which are marginally Tory or Labour – contesting just over 320 seats across the UK, despite swearing to contest in over 600 constituencies.

That means roughly 54 out of the 73 seats will be competed for by the Brexit Party in the capital.

In London, Labour won the highest amounts of seats in 2017 with 46. The Tories were second, the Liberal Democrats hold the third most with four seats and the remaining four seats are split between the Independent Group for Change and independent candidates.

In the 2019 European Parliament Elections, the London constituency – that elects eight MEPs – voted in three candidates from the Liberal Democrats, two from the Brexit Party, two from the Labour Party and one from the Green Party.

Chairman of the Brexit Party Richard Tice said the decision was made to put “country before party”.

The Brexit Party is putting country before party by standing down in 317 Conservative-held seats.

We are still fighting to win elsewhere across the country, including in Hartlepool.

My pledge: to deliver Brexit, jobs and money. https://t.co/HUKUbLwLpe

— Richard Tice (@TiceRichard) November 12, 2019

 

 

Words: Dan Branston l Photo: Element5 Digital on Unsplash