FARAGE COMEBACK?
Nigel Farage says he will have ‘no choice’ but to return to politics if Brexit isn’t delivered – and hints at second referendum
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NIGEL Farage said this morning he would have "absolutely no choice" but to return to politics if Brexit was not delivered - and the Tories backslid on promises to take us out of the EU.
He voiced concerns over the possibility of a Labour and SNP coalition as it was confirmed there would be a hung parliament today - and what it could mean for Brexit negotiations.
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He told ITV's Good Morning Britain today that he was "very angry" that this election result could derail Brexit.
Mr Farage said he put himself behind a reformed Ukip: "If we don't get the kind of Brexit that people voted I will have no choice but to throw myself back into politics.
"The people who voted Brexit meant it, they will not be changing their minds."
He in separate interviews that if Theresa May loses in her bid to retain a Conservative majority in the General Election "we may well be looking down the barrel of a second referendum" as he vowed to return to politics if Corbyn saw success.
This has now been confirmed as the outcome as the Tories failed to keep a majority.
The former Ukip leader told the BBC: "If we get a Corbyn election, then Brexit is in trouble."
Adding: "Let's see.. but I do think this - let's say May scrapes through I'm not sure her cred is going to be very strong in Brussels.
"The [Brexit] timetable is likely to get pushed back."
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But he said officials in Brussels "will have looked at the exit polls and be cheering very loudly because right now, if we believe the exit polls, Brexit is under a bit of threat".
This morning Ukip faces questions about its future as the exit poll indicates it won't win a single seat.
The troubled party leader Paul Nuttall faces a tough challenge to keep the party relevant as their vote share fell drastically from the last election.
Some of the key details from the turbulent election night:
- Hung parliament confirmed with Tories missing out on majority of 326 with polls predicting 318 seats - down from 330
- Labour forecast to take 262 - up from 232 in 2015.
- Theresa May faces mounting pressure – with the odds slashed on Boris Johnson to be the next PM
- Fears grow Brexit negotiations could be sunk if Mrs May does not secure a majority
- Lib Dem Nick Clegg loses Sheffield Hallam seat but Vince Cable regains Twickenham while leader Tim Farron clings on
- Home Secretary Amber Rudd holds on to Hastings seat by barely 300 votes meaning she stays a contender to replace the PM
- Huge losses for SNP as former chief Alex Salmond and deputy leader Angus Robertson are both beaten by the Tories.
- Labour on march in London beating Tories to Battersea constituency
- Pound slides two per cent as exit poll predicts hung parliament
- Ukip voters desert party with vote share down by ten per cent - but not all move to the Tories
- Growing fears that Mrs May will have to call a second election later this year
Earlier this year Ukip insisted they would fight to be the "guard dogs of Brexit" and hold the Government's feet to the fire - but as it the party looked to be getting no seats in Westminster its future appeared shaken.
Of Mrs May he said: "The Prime Minister came across as insincere and frankly robotic."
When asked by Andrew Marr if he thought MPs would try to remove her as leader, he said: "The Prime Minister's credibility as leader of that party is fatally damaged."
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Leader Nuttall tweeted following the exit poll predictions: "If the exit poll is true then Theresa May has put Brexit in jeopardy. I said at the start this election was wrong. Hubris."
Late last night a shock exit poll revealed the Conservatives could face a hung parliament - which has come true this morning. Ukip were predicted to hold no seats.
Ukip were wiped out in local elections last month, leaving many senior figures to ask whether the party had a future at all.
Former donor Arron Banks said Ukip was spent as an electoral force, while leader Nuttall was forced to concede the Tories’ success was a “price Ukip is prepared to pay” for Brexit.
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What happens next?
As the current Prime Minister and leader of the largest party in Parliament, Theresa May has the right to have first go at forming a government.
She will almost certainly try to strike a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party - between them, the two parties will command a small majority in the Commons.
If that fails because Mrs May cannot agree to the DUP's demands, she might try to lead a minority government and hope that other parties support her on a case-by-case basis.
Either way, to stay in power the PM will have to win a vote on her overall policy programme within two weeks, following the Queen's Speech on June 19.
If she has made a formal deal with the DUP, she will almost certainly win that vote - but if she has not, she could lose it and her government would fall.
Then Jeremy Corbyn would have a chance to strike his own deal with the smaller left-wing parties.
This is unlikely to succeed because the total number of seats won by Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and the Greens is less than those won by the Tories alone.
If neither main party leader could form a government, new elections would be held in the autumn.
Deputy chairwoman Suzanne Evans said the party had been a “victim of its own success”, while former chief Nigel Farage added: “We won the war, but we have not won the peace.”
But earlier this week the Ukip boss had urged people to vote TORY - if there was no candidate for his party standing in the seat.
The Ukip leader appeared to admit that his party has little chance of success on Thursday as he pledged partial support for Theresa May.
He blasted Jeremy Corbyn, saying it would be “reckless” to make the Labour leader Prime Minister because of his record on terror.
The party only put up candidates in 400 seats – less than two thirds of the total.
Ukip shed 144 councillors across the country in May, only holding on in Lancashire.
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