Former council leader Colin Lambert named as local Brexit Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate

Colin Lambert

Former council leader Colin Lambert has been named as the Brexit Party's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) for Heywood and Middleton.

The Brexit Party is preparing to fight all 650 seats across the country, announcing its first 150 Prospective Parliamentary Candidates ahead of the widely anticipated early general election.

The first 50 have been named today (Friday 2 August), with a further 50 to be announced on Monday and 50 more on Tuesday.

Mr Lambert was leader of the local Labour group between May 208 and June 2014 and leader of Rochdale Council from December 2010 until June 2014, when he was ousted from the position by Richard Farnell, but continued to serve as a councillor until May 2016. A teacher at a Pupil Referral Unit, he teaches combined science and maths to disadvantaged students.

He said: “I left the Labour Party after nearly 40 years as it is simply not the party I joined. They have let down our city and people by ignoring the democratic decision to leave the EU. 

“It gave me great pleasure to recently announce the Brexit Party’s first council group with Councillors Alan McCarthy and Kath Nickson in Rochdale, who defected from Labour and the Liberal Democrats respectively.” 

The initial referendum on 23 June 2016 asking if the UK should leave the EU or remain saw more than 33.5 million votes cast across the UK with 51.89% of voters opting to leave.

Locally, 60% of Rochdale voters opted to leave.

Leader of The Brexit Party, Nigel Farage commented: “With Boris Johnson already watering down Brexit, and looking to bounce the country into an early general election, trust is now the key issue in British politics.

“Our great candidates will not stand for Mrs May’s treaty being repackaged, it is still the worst deal in history and a betrayal of leave voters.

“That’s why we are ready to fight in every seat to secure the Brexit that 17.4m voted for.”