Less than half of Brexit party and Conservative general election candidates in Wales live in the constituency in which they’re standing.

Nigel Farage visited Buckley, Flintshire today and the constituency, Alyn and Deeside, is one of the majority where the party’s candidates who do not live in the seats where they are standing.

The Brexit Party is fielding the fewest local candidates in Wales – just 11 of 32 (35%) have a home address within the constituency they’re seeking to represent.

That includes five who live outside of Wales, while eight live in neighbouring constituencies and another eight who live in other parts of Wales.

Those six in include Nathan Gill, who lives in Ynys Môn but is standing for election over 180 miles away in Caerphilly. The Brexit party candidate for Alyn and Deeside is also based in Ynys Mon.

The Brexit party’s candidate in Llanelli also lives over 50 miles away in Torfaen, while their candidates for Swansea East and Swansea West both have home addresses in Cardiff.

Despite the Brexit party having held three rallies in Newport in the past year, it couldn’t find someone who lived in Newport West to contest the constituency for them, turning instead a resident of Cardiff.

Ironically, their candidate for Cardiff South and Penarth lives in Newport and their candidate for Cardiff Central lives in Islwyn.

The party’s difficulty in finding local candidates could be due to a lack of grassroots organisation for the Welsh wing of the party, which doesn’t have members but ‘registered supporters.’

Asked by the BBC how many seats in Wales his party could realistically win Mr Farage today said: “We’re a new party – don’t ask me that.

“We are taking on the Labour Party, that’s our main challenge. We’re taking on the remainer parties and we’re saying to people, Labour or Conservative, if you think the candidate in your seat that can actually go to Westminster and fight for Leave is the Brexit Party, then tactically that’s who you have to vote for.”

Other parties

More than half of Conservative candidates also live outside the constituencies they’re standing in.

Nation has already reported that 13 of their 40 candidates live outside of Wales. In addition, a further five live in other parts of Wales, while seven more live in neighbouring constituencies.

It means that just 15 of 40 (37%) Conservative candidates live in the constituency they’re seeking to represent.

The Conservative candidates for Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda and Caerphilly constituencies all live in Monmouth, while their candidates for Ceredigion and Cardiff West have addresses in Powys and Bridgend respectively.

The other major parties standing have all selected candidates living in the constituencies they’re contesting in more than half of Welsh seats:

Green: 12 of 18 (66%)

Liberal Democrat: 20 of 32 (62.5%)

Plaid Cymru: 28 of 36 (77%)

Labour: 36 of 40 (90%)

There are only four seats in Wales where all the candidates live in the constituency: Vale of Clwyd, Preseli Pembrokeshire, Brecon and Radnorshire, Pontypridd.