Brexit Party aims to help Tories win
Hardcore Brexiteer Nigel Farage has made a move aimed at uniting the pro-Brexit camp in December's general election. To avoid stealing votes from Boris Johnson's Conservatives, his Brexit Party will only contest Labour-held seats. How will his gambit affect the election outcome?
Farage has dashed the hopes of Labour
With its strategic withdrawal from many constituencies the Brexit Party has paved the way for a Conservative victory, The Sun believes:
“Labour, already reeling from dismal poll ratings and charges of toxic radicalism, will be in despair at this move. Their high hopes of a damaging split in the Tory heartlands have turned to ashes. Going into the next month of full campaigning, Boris's party is now a far more formidable electoral force than it was before Farage's climbdown.”
Progressives blocking their own path to victory
The chances of a similar alliance of Brexit opponents are slim, The Guardian fears:
“Here's the vital question: will the fragmented progressives resolve their differences in an equally ruthless pursuit of power? They only have until Thursday to set aside petty tribal differences and block Britain leaving the European Union in January, with no referendum, on the hardest of Brexit terms. Sadly, the answer is almost certainly no. Not enough progressive candidates will stand down - unless they are seized this week with sudden paroxysms of self-sacrifice in the cause of the greater good.”