Voters in Stoke have been told they will have chosen to “annul” their decision to back Brexit if they fail to elect Paul Nuttall to the House of Commons at the up-coming by-election.
Speaking in the constituency today, Gerard Batten, the Ukip MEP who is the party’s Brexit spokesman, said: “If the people of stoke vote for a Labour MP in this election they will get exactly what they had before, nothing will change.
“If they vote Labour they are voting, in effect, to annul the decision they made on 23rd June. This is why thy vote Ukip this why they should vote for Paul.”
Stoke voted 69.4% to leave the EU at the referendum and has been dubbed the Brexit capital of the country.
The Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election will be held on February 23 and Ukip is hoping making the vote about Brexit will help its leader capture the seat from Labour.
Nuttall said today if he was elected it would be “game, set and match” for Brexit as it would prove the strength of feeling in the country.
The Ukip leader said the people in the seat needed a “true Brexit MP” to represent them in Westminster. “They need someone to ensure that their will is enacted. I am the only candidate in this by-election who is a true Brexiteer.”
Labour’s new campaign chief, Ian Lavery, has downplayed the significance of Labour losing Stoke and the by-election in Copeland on the same day claiming it would just be a ““hiccup”.