‘Nigel Farage has finally admitted that “Brexit has failed”. Let's get his words up on giant billboards across the country.’
The fabulous folk at Led By Donkeys have pulled off another corker of a campaign… this time focused on Nigel Farage’s extraordinary admittance that Brexit has been a flop.
Appearing on BBC Newsnight this week, the former UKIP leader, who played a leading role in Britain’s exit from the EU, admitted that Brexit has failed. Presenter Victoria Derbyshire informed Farage of a recent poll that showed around one in five Leave voters regret their decision.
When presented with a series of stats and facts that show the negative impact Brexit has had on the UK, including being the only G7 economy not yet back to its pre-pandemic size, the outspoken arch Brexiteer said:
“What Brexit’s proved, I’m afraid is that our politicians are about as useless as the commissioners in Brussels were.
“We’ve mismanaged this totally, and if you look at simple things such as takeovers, such as corporation tax, we are driving business away from our country.
″Arguably, now we’re back in control, we’re regulating our own businesses even more than they were as EU members. Brexit has failed.”
The comments immediately ignited ridicule, with the former politician turned GB News host’s pledge in 2017 that if Brexit is a disaster, he’ll go and live abroad, coming back to haunt him.
As LBC wrote: “Nigel Farage 2017: “If Brexit is a disaster, I’ll go and live abroad.”
“Nigel Farage 2023: “Brexit has failed.”
“@mrjamesob: “It’s a shame of course that we’re not in the EU anymore because then there’d be 27 countries to which he could move – more or less freely.”
But Led By Donkeys went a step further, launching a Crowdfunder to make Farage’s new Brexit slogan famous.
The campaign text notes how in 2016 the pro-Leave slogan was ‘Take Back Control,’ in 2019 it was ‘Get Brexit Done,’ and in 2023, ‘Brexit Has Failed.’
“Nigel Farage has finally admitted “Brexit has failed”.
“It’s a colossal admission from the godfather of the Brexit campaign and should be the final verdict on the catastrophic experiment.
“But the right-wing press who helped deliver our exit from the European Union will do their best to hide and spin Farage’s moment of honesty on BBC’s Newsnight.
“That’s why it’s down to all of us to get his message out there, as a new 3-word Brexit slogan on giant billboards up and down the country,” say the campaigners.
Led By Donkeys, which established in December 2018 as an anti-Brexit group, and have since been vocal critics of the actions of the Conservative government, are urging people to chip in to raise money to get ‘Brexit has failed’ Nigel Farage billboards erected across the UK. For every £10,000 raised, they can get 20 billboard sites installed.
Unsurprisingly, within just a few days, the campaign smashed its £75,000 target.
Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward
Image credit: Led By Donkeys’ Crowdfunder
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