- Title: Brexiteer Farage says Johnson's deal "second worst in history"
- Date: 17th October 2019
- Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (OCTOBER 17, 2019) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN COUNCIL BUILDING EUROPEAN COUNCIL LOGO OUTSIDE PEOPLE WALKING OUTSIDE (SOUNDBITE) (English) BREXIT PARTY LEADER, NIGEL FARAGE, SAYING: "I'll give him credit. I thought (former British Prime Minister) Theresa May's deal was the worst deal in history. Boris's achievements mean it's, I think, the second worst deal in history. It's still, from the point of view of a Brexiteer, completely and utterly unacceptable." EUROPEAN COUNCIL BUILDING CARS PASSING OUTSIDE (SOUNDBITE) (English) BREXIT PARTY LEADER, NIGEL FARAGE, SAYING: "If it's Boris's new EU treaty or leaving with a clean break Brexit, it's a clean break Brexit every, single time. We'd be free, no more Monsieur Barnier." FILM CREW OUTSIDE EUROPEAN COUNCIL BUILDING SIGN ON BUILDING SAYING (English): "THE FUTURE IS EUROPE", MAN WALKING IN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (English) BREXIT PARTY LEADER, NIGEL FARAGE, SAYING: "The attempt to put lipstick on a pig isn't going to change the fact that it's a pig. I don't want a new EU treaty, because that's what this is. What I've wanted for 25 years is a simple FTA, a simple free trade agreement -- Canada's got one, other countries round the world have one -- that's acceptable but given where we start this conversation... We need to leave with a clean break. Leave with a clean break, we could then negotiate on an even basis with the EU and talk about Canada Plus Plus." EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN COUNCIL BUILDING POLICEMEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) BREXIT PARTY LEADER, NIGEL FARAGE, SAYING: "Whatever we see tonight, I do not think there's a cat's chance in Hell of Boris Johnson getting this passed through parliament on Saturday, I really don't." EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN COUNCIL BUILDING EUROPEAN FLAGS (SOUNDBITE) (English) BREXIT PARTY LEADER, NIGEL FARAGE, SAYING: "I don't think, short of a general election, there's any way of sorting this out. A general election might, it might not, but a general election might sort this out, otherwise we're stuck in an impasse for years and years to come. And I'll tell you what, if I'm wrong, if the House of Commons did on Saturday vote for this then if you think the last three and a half years have been tough, you ain't seen nothing yet. The next stage will be appalling. And guess what? The EU have said Monsieur Barnier can handle the next phase of this as well. Well it's game, set and match to Barnier so far. I hate to think of the agony and the acrimony the next three and a half years would represent." POLICE WIRE IN FRONT OF EUROPEAN COUNCIL BUILDING
- Embargoed: 31st October 2019 15:10
- Keywords: Nigel Farage Brexit deal agreement withdrawal Brexit party
- Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- City: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: European Union,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1HLJRB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Ardent Brexit supporter Nigel Farage dismissed the new withdrawal agreement as "completely and utterly unacceptable" on Thursday (October 17), saying the text had no chance of being approved by the British parliament at a session planned for Saturday.
European and British negotiators reached the new deal hours before a summit of EU leaders in Brussels and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged lawmakers to back it.
But speaking to Reuters ahead of the summit, Farage, a key figure in the 2016 referendum campaign to leave the EU, said differences between Johnson's deal and that agreed by his predecessor Theresa May but rejected by parliament were minor.
"It's the second worst deal in history... The attempt to put lipstick on a pig isn't going to change the fact that it's a pig," Farage said.
Parliament is set to convene on a Saturday for the first time since 1982 to vote on the deal approved by EU leaders but Johnson has no majority in the 650-seat chamber and for the moment his Northern Irish allies the DUP have said they will not support the deal.
"I do not think there's a cat's chance in Hell of Boris Johnson getting this passed through parliament on Saturday," Farage said, calling for a general election.
(Production: Natasha Bowler, Johnny Cotton) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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