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Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party to rebrand as anti-lockdown Reform UK

Nigel Farage addresses the media during the Brexit Party's first press conference of the European election campaign on May 07, 2019 in London, England.
Nigel Farage said he wants to tackle the Government’s ‘woeful response’ to the pandemic (Picture: Getty)

The Brexit Party has applied to the Electoral Commission to change its name to Reform UK, in a bid to re-brand as an anti-lockdown movement.

Nigel Farage’s party said the ‘single most pressing issue’ the country is facing is the Government’s ‘woeful response’ to the pandemic.

It added that ‘badly run, wasteful quangos are in abundance’, as the party announced it will campaign against Covid-19 measures.

Unveiling their new plans, Farage and party chairman, Richard Tice, said it was ‘time to redirect our energies’ and that they will take on numerous ‘powerful vested interests.’

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They said they would continue to keep a ‘close eye’ on Brexit negotiations but that it was time to broaden its agenda and seek ‘reform’ in other areas, such as the BBC, the House of Lords, the voting process and immigration as it described the Home Office as ‘not fit for purpose’.

In the December 2019 election, the party won 275 seats and gained 2% of votes but did not succeed in electing an MP.

Social disancing sign as Londoners await the imminent second coronavirus lockdown it's business as usual in the West End with large numbers of people, some wearing face masks and some not, coming to Oxford Street to go shopping on what will be the last weekend before a month-long total lockdown in the UK on 1st November 2020 in London, United Kingdom.
Reform UK want to serve as an anti-lockdown movement (Picture: Getty)

Ahead of the election, Farage admitted the party would unlikely make it to No 10 but would change its name after Brexit to focus on campaigning for electoral change.

Farage announced on Sunday: ‘As promised, we continue to keep a very close eye on the Government’s trade negotiations with the EU, to ensure a proper Brexit.

‘Further reform in many other areas is also vital for our nation’s future.’

Chairman Richard Tice added: ‘The need for major reform in the UK is clearer now than ever.

‘A new approach is essential, so that government works for the people, not for itself. The most urgent issue is a new coronavirus strategy, so that we learn to live with it, not hide in fear of it.’

In a piece written in the Telegraph, the party said: ‘The debate over how to respond to Covid is becoming even more toxic than that over Brexit.’

The party is set to back the herd immunity approach – despite more than 80 researchers recently publishing an open letter warning there is no scientific evidence behind it.

Their announcement comes as England is set to be plunged into its second lockdown of the year from Thursday, with all non-essential shops, pubs, restaurants and gyms forced to close.

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