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West Midlands MEP Bill Etheridge is standing to replace Nigel Farage as UKIP leader - with proposals including cheaper beer, justice for fathers and a referendum on bringing back the death penalty.

Mr Etheridge, who is also a Dudley councillor, launched his campaign at the Seven Stars pub in Sedgley, saying: “I want us to represent the view of the people against the establishment.”

It follows the resignation of UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who quit after the country voted to leave the European Union in last month’s referendum.

And the MEP has set out a series of radical policies.

They include holding a referendum on bringing back the death penalty for the most serious crimes.

He said: “For my part I believe that the very worst crimes deserve the ultimate penalty and I propose that those who murder and rape children, those that commit sadistic acts of murder and torture and those that commit acts of murder through terrorism against our country or our people should be subject to the death penalty at the discretion of the presiding judge.”

Other proposals include changing family law so that the default judgment when families break up is that both partners should be involved in parenting.

In practice this would usually benefit fathers.

Campaigners say two hundred children a day lose contact with their fathers due to judgments made in family courts, and Mr Etheridge says this helps explain why suicide is the biggest killer of men under fifty.

He said: “If elected leader I shall be making this a key policy for UKIP, showing that we are so much more than a one issue party.”

The MEP has also called for a drastic reduction in the price of a pint as one way of reinvigorating the British pub.

Mr Etheridge said he believed that slashing the duty on beer would rapidly pay for itself, with reductions in smuggling alcohol and growth in the licensed trade.

And he also said there may be a case for bringing back smoking in pubs.

He said: “When I visit Brussels, I see people legally smoking indoors, in a well ventilated smoking booth. Perhaps we should investigate whether they would work in pubs?”

Other candidates in the contest include North East MEP Jonathan Arnott, North West MEP Steven Woolfe and Cambridgeshire councillor Lisa Duffy.

Watch: Bill Etheridge clashes with Labour MP Jack Dromey following the EU referendum