In The Daily Mail, Claire explains her reasons for standing as a European election candidate for The Brexit Party.
As a left-wing campaigner for 35 years, I’ve been arrested on picket lines, led anti-imperialist demonstrations and spoken at anti-deportation protests outside police stations. I’ve made speeches at street rallies, in prisons and universities and at pubs.
Yet yesterday, in an unexpected twist of events, I found myself sitting next to Nigel Farage, announcing my intention to stand as a candidate for his Brexit Party in the European elections on May 23.
You’d struggle to find a pair of more unlikely political bedfellows than the former Ukip leader and myself, a former Trotskyist who spent her youth agitating for a workers’ revolution.
We disagree on a wide range of issues – from workers’ and women’s rights to immigration and the NHS. But – and this is a crucial ‘but’ – we agree on the one historic issue that today matters more than anything else: Brexit and the future of British democracy.
That common ground of honouring democracy – the very basis of the Brexit Party – is what counts.
Be in no doubt, this is a watershed moment for democracy. It’s been almost three years since 17.4 million people voted to Leave the EU – the largest popular mandate in British political history. But today, thanks to an ineffective Government and a cabal of staunchly Remain-supporting MPs, we remain shackled to Brussels. It is almost as if a referendum was never held.
Read the full article here.