Derbyshire Tories boycott EU elections over Brexit chaos

Conservative councillors in Derbyshire have voted to go on 'strike' and not help candidates campaign in the upcoming European elections, in an extraordinary show of local defiance to the national party. It comes as a survey of 781 Conservative councillors for the Mail on Sunday shows that 40% of them are prepared to vote for Nigel Farage's Brexit Party at the elections on 23 May. Every one of the 37 Tory councillors at Derbyshire County Council are in support of the boycott, meaning that hundreds of activists will not deliver leaflets or canvass for the party's candidates in the run up to the elections. Council leader Barry Lewis: 'I suppose it is described in one way as going on strike, to not take part in a campaign for an election like this. 'It is with a heavy heart - we are an activist group at Derbyshire County Council, we want to support our candidates - but we simply cannot go against the wishes of the people.