Nigel Farage is an elitist selling a brand – and you won’t get your money back when he fails

As the Labour candidate for Sedgefield, how dare the salesman of the Brexit Party turn up in my constituency when he won’t even put himself forward for election

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I hear Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage is visiting Sedgefield again today. Another rally at the racecourse where his supporters will need to pay to attend. That doesn’t usually happen at mainstream political rallies. A donation, yes. A fee, of whatever size, no. But the truth is, Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party isn’t a cause, it’s a brand.

His latest version of Brexit, and there have been several, is a “clean break Brexit”. Only there is no such thing. What he means is a no-deal Brexit where the UK drops out of the EU with all the negative economic consequences for local people. There would be nothing clean about the break. The poorest would be hit first and worst, industry in the North East wiped out, including Nissan, and our NHS used as a bargaining chip in a race-to-the-bottom trade deal with his mate Donald Trump.

But don’t take my word for it. Back in 2016, Nigel Farage admitted as much. He signed up to a Leave.EU report which said: “Leaving the EU will have significant geopolitical and economic consequences. But we believe it is unrealistic to expect a clean break, immediately unravelling 40 years of integration in a single step.”

He was right then, and he’s wrong now. But when you’re marketing the Brexit Party you don’t expect people to read the small print. So, beware the salesman.

Nigel Farage is a wealthy, privately educated, former stockbroker who despises the EU but has lived off its pay and perks for years. Behind the brand of a man with a pint lies a member of the very elite he says is betraying the people. He is playing a very dangerous game. He is being dishonest with people, because if Brexit happens, he’ll be OK whatever the outcome. The rest of us will have to live with the catastrophe of the no-deal Brexit he proposes. He needs to be honest, but he won’t be.

And what would be the consequences for Farage if he got his way? How would you make him pay as we entered a decade of Brexit hell? You’d march down to the ballot box and vote him out, right?

Except his name is not even on the ballot paper.

That is the difference between someone like Nigel Farage and me.

My neck is proudly on the line because your ability to get rid of me is what makes our democracy work. It lets you know who I am accountable to. You. And it is on the line in an area which voted 59 per cent Leave. I am the son of a miner, who grew up in a pit village just north of Sedgefield, who went to the local comprehensive school, who did not go to university, and I believe the jobs of the people of Sedgefield are more important than my own.

Farage can say and do anything he likes. He is not accountable to the people of Sedgefield. He doesn’t care about the people I’ve represented for 12 years, he only cares about his brand. That’s why he wants you to pay to see him and offers no debate with the son of a miner. The Farage circus just rolls into town, promising the greatest show on earth because there are no consequences for him.

Unlike Nigel Farage, I live in Sedgefield. Always have, always will. I’m not gracing the local people with my presence and charging them hard cash for the privilege. The day after the election, I will wake up in Sedgefield and look into the eyes of local people, thankful that I have the chance to fight for them and their future. Or, if I lose, fearful of what the future holds for us, for our children, and for the place I love. That’s the difference between me and Farage and that’s the reason why I believe the people deserve the final say on Brexit.

If you are going to Sedgefield racecourse to see Farage, enjoy the show, because that’s all it is.

Phil Wilson has been Labour MP for Sedgefield since 2007