Brexit: National Trust bans Nigel Farage’s march from its properties

Plans for walkers to meet at picturesque Nostell Priory had to be abandoned - and a pub car park used instead

A pro-Brexit march between Sunderland to London, which has been heavily promoted by Nigel Farage, has been banned from National Trust properties.

The March To Leave procession has been told it is not welcome because the charity is “apolitical”.

The revelation comes after it emerged marchers, who are walking the 270 miles over 14 days, had already been asked to leave a property run by the organisation in North Yorkshire.

Plans to start Tuesday’s leg of the walk – organised by Leave Means Leave – at picturesque Fountains Abbey had to be hastily rearranged after the trust said walkers should not gather at the site’s car park.

Marchers instead met in a nearby lay-by with many of the roughly 80 participants emailed new Google Maps coordinates minutes before the start time.

Walkers themselves were given no indication of why the change of venue had occurred with organisers saying logistical issues caused the alteration.

Further plans to begin Thursday’s march at Nostell Priory, in West Yorkshire were cancelled by Leave Means Leave to avoid further embarrassment, The Yorkshire Post reports. A pub car park was announced as the convening point instead.

A spokeswoman for the National Trust, which looks after some of the UK’s most famous stately homes, told the newspaper: “We were not contacted by the organisers of the march for permission to gather at Nostell. As a charitable organisation, the National Trust is apolitical, and in view of this we would not agree, nor did we agree, to Nostell being used for a political event.”

A Leave Means Leave spokesman confirmed the march will now stay away from the charity's sites for the remainder of the journey to London.

It is not the first time the march has run into difficulties.

On its second day, plans to cross the River Tees by the famous Transporter Bridge had to be abandoned when the group arrived only to find the bridge did not operate on Sundays.

The walk, which started on Saturday, is set to finish in London on 29 March where a political rally in Parliament Square will demand the UK leaves the EU immediately.