Main Parties need to 'get a grip' says top Rutland Tory as Brexit Party romps home

A leading Rutland Conservative says the main parties need to 'get to grips' with Brexit.

The comments follow the Brexit Party romping home to victory in the EU elections on Sunday, with the Nigel Farage-led party winning 36.1 per cent of the vote in Rutland.

The Lib-Dems came second in Rutland on 25 per cent, followed by the Conservatives in third on 13.7 per cent.

The vote saw the Brexit Party take three of the five East Midlands seats in the European Parliament, the Lib-Dems and Labour each getting one. The Tories and UKIP both ended up losing two and taking none.

Among the newly-elected Brexit Party MPs for the region is Annunziata Rees-Mogg (pictured), the sister of leading Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Byron Rhodes, chairman of Rutland and Melton Conservative Association, said the results were ‘not good’ for both Labour and the Conservatives.

He said: “It shows the desire of people to have this Brexit problem settled.”

Commenting on the Liberal-Democrats coming second and pushing his party into third place, Coun Rhodes continued: “There’s also a polarity of opinion in the country between leavers and remainers.”

“People are just anxious to get it over and done with and are annoyed the main parties don’t seem to get to grips with it. They need to get to grips with
it.”

Coun Rhodes added his party faces a leadership contest and people need confidence that the winner has “a solution to resolve the Brexit problem”.

The Brexit Party didn’t respond to requests for a comment.

The full result for Rutland was: Change UK - The Independent Group 424; Conservative Party 1581; Green Party 1499; Independent Network 73; Labour Party 487; Liberal Democrats 2892; The Brexit Party 4176; UK Independence Party (UKIP) UKIP Make Brexit Happen 377; and Simon Louis Rood - Independent
48.