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Nigel Farage mocked and heckled by MEPs during extraordinary speech

The Ukip leader claimed the EU was 'in denial'

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Nigel Farage has been heckled and laughed at by members of the European Parliament in his first speech there since the EU referendum. 

In a remarkable speech Ukip’s leader insulted his fellow MEPs, claiming that “virtually none” of them had had “proper jobs” and that the EU as a political projected was “in denial”.

Mr Farage went on to claim that the consequences of Europe refusing a good trade deal with the UK post-Brexit would “be far worse for you than it would be for us” – eliciting rapturous laughter from some MEPs.

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Nigel Farage disowns Vote Leave '£350m for the NHS' Brexit pledge

“Isn’t it funny? When I came here 17 years ago and I said that I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the European Union, you all laughed at me – well I have to say, you’re not laughing now, are you?” he began.

With the usually tame parliament in uproar and some MEPs turning their backs during Mr Farage’s speech, he accused the EU of bypassing democracy.

“The biggest problem you’ve got and the main reason the United Kingdom voted the way it did is because you have by stealth and deception, and without telling the truth to the rest of the peoples of Europe, you have imposed upon them a political union,” he said.

“When the people in 2005 in the Netherlands and France voted against that political union and rejected the constitution you simply ignored them and brought the Lisbon treaty in through the back door.

6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you

6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you

  • 1/6 More expensive foreign holidays

    The first practical effect of a vote to Leave is that the pound will be worth less abroad, meaning foreign holidays will cost us more

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  • 2/6 No immediate change in immigration status

    The Prime Minister will have to address other immediate concerns. He is likely to reassure nationals of other EU countries living in the UK that their status is unchanged. That is what the Leave campaign has said, so, even after the Brexit negotiations are complete, those who are already in the UK would be allowed to stay

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  • 3/6 Higher inflation

    A lower pound means that imports would become more expensive. This is likely to mean the return of inflation – a phenomenon with which many of us are unfamiliar because prices have been stable for so long, rising at no more than about 2 per cent a year. The effect may probably not be particularly noticeable in the first few months. At first price rises would be confined to imported goods – food and clothes being the most obvious – but inflation has a tendency to spread and to gain its own momentum

    AFP/Getty Images

  • 4/6 Interest rates might rise

    The trouble with inflation is that the Bank of England has a legal obligation to keep it as close to 2 per cent a year as possible. If a fall in the pound threatens to push prices up faster than this, the Bank will raise interest rates. This acts against inflation in three ways. First, it makes the pound more attractive, because deposits in pounds will earn higher interest. Second, it reduces demand by putting up the cost of borrowing, and especially by taking larger mortgage payments out of the economy. Third, it makes it more expensive for businesses to borrow to expand output

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  • 5/6 Did somebody say recession?

    Mr Carney, the Treasury and a range of international economists have warned about this. Many Leave voters appear not to have believed them, or to think that they are exaggerating small, long-term effects. But there is no doubt that the Leave vote is a negative shock to the economy. This is because it changes expectations about the economy’s future performance. Even though Britain is not actually be leaving the EU for at least two years, companies and investors will start to move money out of Britain, or to scale back plans for expansion, because they are less confident about what would happen after 2018

    AFP/Getty Images

  • 6/6 And we wouldn’t even get our money back

    All this will be happening while the Prime Minister, whoever he or she is, is negotiating the terms of our future access to the EU single market. In the meantime, our trade with the EU would be unaffected, except that companies elsewhere in the EU may be less interested in buying from us or selling to us, expecting tariff barriers to go up in two years’ time. Whoever the Chancellor is, he or she may feel the need to bring in a new Budget

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“What happened last Thursday was a remarkable result – it was a seismic result. Not just for British politics, for European politics, but perhaps even for global politics too.”

Responses to Mr Farage’s speech were cutting and intemperate. Jean Claude-Juncker, the president of the European Commission, asked Mr Farage why he was in the chamber.

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“You lied. You fabricated reality. I regret this is the last time we will debate - because you won't be coming back,” he said.

Meanwhile Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the parliament’s Liberal group, said there was a silver lining to Brexit.

“Let's look on the bright side. Finally we're getting rid of the biggest waste of the EU budget: your salary,” he said, a reference to Mr Farage’s sparse attendance at the parliament.

At the end of the debate on Brexit the European Parliament ultimately backed a motion for an “immediate” triggering of Article 50 – putting it into conflict with David Cameron and Boris Johnson, who have called for a pause.

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