UKIP's Farage invites leftist Corbyn on anti-EU campaign
Nigel Farage © European Union 2015 - source EP
(LONDON) - British anti-EU leader Nigel Farage on Friday said he wanted leftist Jeremy Corbyn to be the next leader of the Labour Party and invited him to join his campaign for Britain to leave the European Union.
Farage, head of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), also outlined plans for more than 300 public meetings to encourage Britons to vote against EU membership in a referendum due to be held by the end of 2017.
"Even though if we disagree on almost everything, I would love to share a platform with him in the run up to this referendum," Farage said as he officially launched his anti-EU campaign in London.
Other contenders for the Labour leadership have stated clearly that they want Britain to stay in the European Union but Corbyn has remained vague and has not ruled out a vote against.
UKIP came first in European Parliament elections last year and garnered almost four million votes in a general election earlier this year even though it only won one seat in parliament.
"We want our country back and we recognise and understand that we will not win this referendum unless we get significant numbers of people from the centre left of politics," Farage said.
Farage said his would be "the biggest outreach campaign in the history of Eurosceptic movements".
He said three million leaflets encouraging a vote against the EU had been distributed and three million more would be handed out by the end of the year.
The referendum could be held as early as next year.
Prime Minister David Cameron has said he wants Britain to stay in the EU but only on condition that he can renegotiate the terms of Britain's membership.