Farage: It could take years to get out of EU’s grip

UKIP leader outlines new Brexit strategy.

United Kingdom Independence Party leader Nigel Farage acknowledged Wednesday that it would take years for Britain to cut its ties with the EU even if it voted to leave the Union.

Farage said that if the referendum to be held before the end of 2017 resulted in an “Out” vote, Britons would still wake up the next morning with a half-century of EU legislation on the books that would unwind over many years.

“I’m not pretending that just because we leave all of Britain’s social ills and problems will be changed overnight,” he said, speaking at a POLITICO “Playbook Breakfast” event in Brussels.

Instead Farage limited his claim to saying that what is most important is that “Britain will once again have the ability” to decide what new laws would apply to it.

Farage also outlined his new campaign strategy to win a “Brexit” vote by seeking to turn the referendum into a question of democracy by defining the EU as a dictatorship, run by big corporate interests, and British exit from the EU as a way for the people to choose their own governance.

“It’s as simple as ‘Are you for democracy? Yes or no.’ Do we think that our votes or elections matter, or have we become like Greece?” Farage said. “This project is antidemocratic. My argument will be that countries will be happier if they are self-governing, if people are the masters of their own destiny.

Farage went on to describe European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans as “the most dangerous man in Europe,” because his hardline campaign to reduce the amount of new EU legislation could persuade voters that the Union is changing for the better.

Despite tensions among the rival “out” campaigns — Leave.eu, which UKIP has partnered with, and the Out Campaign, run by Business for Britain — Farage extended an olive branch. He said the party will work with either team and described the Out Campaign group, headed by Matthew Elliott, as “very professional.” Leave.eu is currently funded by major UKIP donor Arron Banks, and has claimed to have signed up more than 180,000 supporters in the last month.

Farage struck a defiant note by saying that his 300-stop tour throughout Britain would continue regardless of what the other campaign groups plan.

The self-branded “maverick” and “radical” also used the rise of Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn to recast himself as the mainstream voice on EU issues.

“I’ve been considered a maverick, an outsider but now we’ve got Jeremy Corbyn, I’m mainstream whether we like it or not,” he said.

Farage also criticized the UK member of the European Commission, Jonathan Hill, whose Capital Markets Union plan will be unveiled Wednesday. Farage said the plan wouldn’t affect opportunities for London’s financial industry.

“If you showed [Hill’s] face to a thousand people in the street,” Farage said, “not one would recognize him.”