THE Brexit figurehead held rallies across Gwent yesterday to drum up support for his newly founded political party.

The first stop in Nigel Farage’s tour to the region was Caerphilly, where he launched the Brexit Party’s European election campaign.

But it was during the next stop in Newport where Brexit Party officials were greeted by more than 1,000 people in The Neon to listen to their pro-Brexit messages.

Richard Tice, chairman of the party, was the first to take to the stage and introduced each of the four speakers.

Mr Farage was greeted by a rapturous applause and vowed to not “give up the battle”.

“After the referendum there was a general election the following year,” he said.

“Both main parties said ‘vote for us and we will honour the promise and leave the EU’. And nearly 85 per cent voted for this.

“Parliamentarians voted for Article 50.

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“I thought we had won. But I cannot believe the extent to which our political class have openly betrayed the biggest democratic exercise in this nation.

“We knew what we were voting for.

“I set up this party to fight back and vowed that if I had to come back into public life this time there would be no more Mr nice guy. We need to continue until we win.”

Former Conservative minister Anne Widdecombe was also greeted by a standing ovation and loud cheers.

She began: “For those who said we did not know what we were voting for actually revealed their own ignorance.

“Because by voting to remain they voted for Britain to stay helpless.

“However, we gave them a different answer in 2016. Both major parties at Westminster stood on manifestos saying they would implement the will of the people.”

She added: “[The government has] spent the best part of three years asking the EU for their gracious permission to leave.”

And former leader of UKIP Wales, Nathan Gill, who was another speaker, added: “They said this was the referendum to end all referenda—well what happened to it?

“We are here to say that Wales voted to leave the EU.

“The Yes campaign for devolution won by a small margin in 1997 and yet no one said you need to spend three years to contemplate this.”

A list of submitted questions were then read out to the panel, including one which asked if those who traditionally vote UKIP would split the vote for the Brexit Party.

Mr Farage said: “The remain vote is already split.

“THere are two parties standing advocating leaving. The one I was a founding member of and leader of for 10 years. The party has taken the wrong direction and are becoming an irrelevance.

“There will not be a split vote.”

Other speakers included James Wells and Gethin James.

The Brexit Party was formed earlier this year with the specific goal of fulfilling the result of the 2016 referendum. Its membership is largely made up of former Ukip members, including Mr Farage, who left following concerns the party was moving to the far right.

The party's four candidates for the EU election are Nathan Gill, who is already one of Wales' four MEPs, having first been elected for Ukip, James Wells, Gethin James and Julie Price.

Monmouthshire was the only constituency in Gwent to vote remain during the EU referendum.