Nigel Farage hints at Brexit Party’s future after UK leaves EU

The Brexit Party could reform into the "reform party" if the UK leaves the EU on January 31, party leader Nigel Farage has suggested.

Mr Farage revealed he had already registered the name as he added it would "have to campaign to change politics for good".

He predicted the Brexit Party had a "seriously good chance of winning" in a "handful" of seats in Thursday's General Election.

MEP Mr Farage claimed "Boris Johnson has always been very soft on the immigration issue, but you know what, there's an election on so tell people what they want to hear".

He told Sky News's Sophy Ridge On Sunday: "They're (Tories) beginning to say the same things, the problem is they'll make no real commitment to cut the numbers coming in and this is the fourth Conservative manifesto in a row promising to reduce numbers."

Mr Farage cast doubt on Mr Johnson's Brexit deal, but added there was "still time for it to be amended".

He said: "It is a new EU treaty. If it goes through unamended we will find it virtually impossible to make trade deals with any other part of the world and we will find ourselves (in) everything from financial services to fisheries bound by EU law. But there is still time for it to be amended."

Talking about why he stood his candidates down in Tory-held seats, Mr Farage said: "I wanted to stop a second referendum and I think the effect of us standing in the South and the South East would have been two dozen plus Liberal Democrat gains. We've stopped that."

Asked how many seats his party could win, Mr Farage said: "Well I think there's a handful in which we've got a seriously good chance of winning and I think we will get some in, I genuinely do."

Mr Farage has had a tough week after four MEPs walked out of the fledgling outfit on Thursday to campaign for the PM's Brexit deal.

Annunziata Rees-Mogg, sister of Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, along with Lance Forman and Lucy Harris all resigned the whip, while John Longworth, who was sacked on Wednesday for having "repeatedly undermined" Mr Farage's election strategy, confirmed he was formally leaving the party.

Mr Farage said: "I haven't fallen out with anybody. I haven't moved....Of course I want Brexit done, but I want the right Brexit done."

He warned: "We will be back in crisis by June unless this Withdrawal Agreement is amended and that is the fight I've got and I want just to get a bridgehead of Brexit Party MPs in Parliament to hold Boris Johnson to account, because otherwise we're going to see Brexit sold out."

Asked what would happen to the Brexit Party if the UK leaves the EU on January 31, he said: "It'll have to reform into the 'reform party', it'll have to campaign to change politics for good, get rid of the House of Lords, change the voting system. So much to do and again you'll see on Thursday a turnout much lower than the pundits expect because people have lost faith in politics."

Asked if the Reform Party was a possible new name, he added: "Absolutely, I've registered it already."