A FORMER Brexit Party candidate will fight to become Worcester’s next MP after deciding to stand as an independent.
Just over a week after being dumped as the Brexit Party’s man to fight the seat, Martin Potter will be among the five candidates bidding to represent Worcester at Westminster.
The Observer reported last week how Mr Potter’s bid appeared to be doomed following party leader Nigel Farage’s decision not to stand any candidate against successful Conservatives in the 2017 election.
But the campaigner will hit the streets between now and polling day on December 12 in an election which he said was about Brexit but also about trust.
“Trust in delivering Brexit and trust in delivering on campaign pledges on the NHS and other areas,” he said.
“I was stood down as the Brexit Party candidate for Worcester along with all other candidates standing in Conservative-held seats.
“Whilst there was no formal agreement with Boris Johnson, there was a clear basis for doing this. Despite the Brexit Party’s support for a clean-break Brexit now, the compromise position was that a Boris Johnson-led government would negotiate a Canada-plus style free trade agreement with the EU and that the transition period would not be delayed beyond the end of 2020.
“By standing as an independent, I am giving the opportunity to Worcester electors who voted leave by a 54/46 margin in the 2016 referendum, to vote for someone who actually believes in Brexit and will not frustrate in parliament the process to leave.
“However, I am also someone who stands for spending that can be afforded and not the eye-watering spending pledges that both Labour and Conservatives are making.
“At £1.8trillion, our national debt has escalated from 34 per cent to 85 per cent of GDP since 2001.
“Labour spending plans would require another £0.6trillion of debt, taking the country back to levels not seen since the early 60s when we were paying off war debt.
“It is immoral to load this debt on to future generations,” he added.
