Nigel Farage won't release a Brexit Party manifesto until AFTER the EU elections

Nigel Farage at the launch of the Brexit Party in central London. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA Wire. - Credit: PA

Nigel Farage has batted off requests for transparency about the Brexit Party’s policies at a launch announcing their MEP candidates.

After five candidates introduced themselves, the floor opened for questions where Telegraph reporter Christopher Hope asked: ‘Will we ever see a manifesto?

‘You have only one single policy which is: Brexit.

‘What does that mean in your eyes, Nigel, to be quite clear, and when will we see actual policies from this new party?’

The question went unanswered by Farage, who replayed his referendum tactic from 2016 of offering the electorate nothing more than generalisations.

‘As far as the manifesto is concerned, we are fighting the 23rd of May on the issue of democracy,’ said the figurehead of a referendum campaign that was fined £60,000 in February by the Information Commissioner’s Office for illegal marketing messages.

‘Are we a democratic country or not?’ he continued.

‘Because right at the moment, it doesn’t feel like it and our friends around the world look at us and shake their heads.’

He followed these comments with boilerplate missives on political trust, incompetent politicians, the need to train doctors and engineers and the future of our children.

‘We will talk about all those things after the 23rd of May,’ he said.

‘But right now … we are fighting and campaigning to make sure that we can be a free, independent, self-governing, democratic nation.’