Brexit backers 'cheated' by Tories on migration - Nigel Farage
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is offering a "tougher line" on free movement than the Government, Nigel Farage has said, as he claimed the Tories had "sold out" their supporters.
In what he described as the "great Brexit betrayal", the former Ukip leader said those who voted to leave the European Union in last year's referendum would feel "cheated" by a transitional Brexit deal.
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said on Sunday that it was "not a huge deal" if transitional arrangements when Britain quits the EU last up until 2022.
But Mr Farage, writing in the Daily Telegraph, said arguments about the need for a transitional period were a "re-run of an argument advanced by the Remain side last year, which was dramatically rejected by the electorate".
He said Brexit supporters were "not in denial over immigration" and wrote: "For a nation to rise up against the establishment and secure a historic victory, only to have its hopes thwarted by an out-of-touch elite, is a recipe for dangerous division.
"It is strange to think that Jeremy Corbyn is now offering a tougher line than the Government when he says he would ban the wholesale importation of low-skilled EU workers.
"Is this a ploy to damage Theresa May, much as the late Labour leader John Smith cynically opposed the Maastricht treaty in 1992?"
Mr Farage said the message on migration from Cabinet ministers had changed since the referendum.
"Although the modern Tory party has a dreadful track record when it comes to immigration, last summer things looked brighter.
"Boris Johnson and Michael Gove even advocated an Australian-style points system. That message undoubtedly helped to secure Brexit.
"Things have now changed."
He added: "The old alliance of big business and a Tory government is booming again.
"Meanwhile Tory supporters, who have voted loyally in successive elections for manifestos that promise to drastically cut numbers, have been sold out."
Mr Farage added: "My hopes that this government had learnt the lessons of the referendum, and understood that open-door immigration and its effects matter more to voters than any other issue, have for now evaporated.
"The 'new consensus' must be broken."
