Nigel Farage suggests coronavirus will make people less afraid of a no-deal Brexit

Nigel Farage speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference 2020. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images) 2020 Getty Images

Brexiteer Nigel Farage appears to be more concerned about the UK’s departure from the EU during the coronavirus outbreak than public health - by claiming it will provide a kind of Brexit that he has longed for.

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Nigel Farage celebrates the pound plummeting on the night of the EU referendum result. Photograph: TNE/Contributed. Nigel Farage celebrates the pound plummeting on the night of the EU referendum result. Photograph: TNE/Contributed.

Farage was appearing at a Q&A session with Telegraph journalist Christopher Hope when he insisted that it was a good thing that the Brexit Party was still around so that it can keep Brexit on the agenda during the pandemic.

“It’s very important that the Brexit Party is there if, in the wake of a financial crisis that may come because of coronavirus, they try to suspend Brexit,” he explained.

He continued: “This awful crisis and the way it’s gripping parts of Italy makes a trade deal with the EU easier now than it’s ever been. The collapsing Italian economy needs a deal with the UK desperately. German equally.”

Hope, interjecting, asked Farage to clarify his comments: “So rather than delay as they might do, use it…”

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“Use it, use it to get a deal,” responded the politician, businessman, and former commodities trader.

Politicising the pandemic, he claimed that it will lead to the end of free movement and globalisation, as well as the breakup of the European Union.

But more significantly for Farage, he said it will either lead to type of a Brexit deal he has longed for, or even a no-deal Brexit, because the public will fear it less than the consequences of COVID-19.

Nigel Farage is selling these placards for £35. Photograph: Brexit Party. Nigel Farage is selling these placards for £35. Photograph: Brexit Party.

He said: “Free movement has ended, globalisation has ended. I’m sorry that it took something as awful as coronavirus but it’s over, it’s done and we will witness over the next few years the breakup of the eurozone, the breakup of the European Union and for us now getting a trade deal is easy, even the risk of a no-deal Brexit…

“The arguments about the risk a no-deal Brexit would pose are as nothing to the downturn we are facing, so the government’s got a great chance now to get this done.”

Farage’s remarks came as the Brexiteers scrambled to provide the worst takes of the coronavirus outbreak so far, with Daniel Hannan, Jeremy Corbyn’s brother, and former UKIP leader Gerard Batten all providing terrible views.