Nigel Farage gives an example of  Sweden as he relaunches Brexit Party to oppose COVID-19 lockdowns

Eurosceptic Nigel Farage has stated plans to relaunch his Brexit Party with a twist: this time to fight the British government’s coronavirus response.

Revealing the plan after a second lockdown was announced this weekend for England, the party leader said the current policy against COVID-19 had been a “woeful” one as the national conversation grew “even more toxic than that over Brexit”.

He added that several lockdowns had been an “appalling cruelty” toward populations, and showed his support instead to the Great Barrington Declaration – a contention for a “focused protection” access to those most at-risk to the virus.

“It is definitely being practised to a large degree in Sweden with significant success,” Farage wrote in The Telegraph on Sunday, while declaring his choice to ditch the Brexit Party name for Reform UK.

“The rest of the people should, with good hygiene measures and a dose of traditional sense, get on with life. This way we build resistance in the population.

“The young act as soldiers, forming a shield of protection. Multi-generational families will, of course, need to perform stricter measures.”

This declaration, however, which was authored by three professors from Harvard, Oxford and Stanford has been criticised for not having scientific support. 

“This is wishful thinking,” said Dr Rupert Beale from the cell biology of infection laboratory at Francis Crick Institute. “It is not possible to fully identify exposed individuals, and it is not possible to fully isolate them.

“Furthermore, we know that resistance to coronaviruses wanes over time, and re-infection is possible – so lasting security of vulnerable individuals by building ‘herd immunity’ is very unlikely to be achieved in the absence of a vaccine.

“Individual scientists may honestly disagree about the relative merits of various attacks, but they must be honest about the probability of what they propose. This declaration is, therefore not a helpful contribution to the debate.”

Farage’s move to try and create a growing anti-lockdown view in the UK comes in addition to similar difference elsewhere in Europe as the continent moves deep into its second wave.

Italy, which has closed fields and gyms, and has placed extra restrictions on bars and eateries has seen days of violent protesting across its most prominent cities, where, in one location, police had to use force to disperse crowds of people.

In Florence on Friday, petrol bombs, bottles and rocks were the modes of anger for rebels, who also reportedly overturned bins and wrecked CCTV.Florence mayor Dario Nardella later wrote on Facebook of a “surreal, terrible and painful night” as he scolded those who had chosen to “scar” the city.

“This is not how you protest your injuries; this is not how you voice your suffering,” he said.

The installation of a six-month state of emergency in Spain has also sparked protests across the country, while numbers of French citizens said “non” this weekend to Emmanuel Macron’s imposing of another nationwide lockdown. Similar illustrations, too, have been reported in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, Ireland – and now England, which will lock down again on Thursday.