Businesswoman named as Brexit Party candidate for West Norfolk seat

A former civil servant who worked on the London Olympics has been named as one of the contenders who will be looking to unseat a West Norfolk MP.

Expectations of a snap general election have grown in recent weeks amid the continuing Brexit stalemate and following a series of policy announcements by the new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

Now, Ruth Jolley has been named as the Brexit Party’s prospective Parliamentary candidate for the South West Norfolk constituency.

And she believes her experience in government, and of running her own pet care business in the constituency mean she is well qualified for the role.

She said: I’m not a professional politician - I’m an ordinary person who runs a small business.

“I’m going into politics because I want to ensure that democracy is upheld and the Referendum result to leave the EU is delivered properly.

“I would also love the opportunity to play a role in rebuilding our nation after we have left the EU.

“I want to ensure that we reap the maximum benefits available of leaving the European Union – and we can only do that if we leave properly.”

The South West Norfolk seat has been held by Liz Truss, the International Trade Secretary, for the Conservatives since 2010.

But the Brexit Party will have high hopes of doing well when voters eventually go to the polls, having won more than 47 per cent of the borough’s votes in May’s European elections.

Party chairman and East of England MEP Richard Tice said: “We stand ready to fight a general election with a full slate of candidates in all the UK’s 650 constituencies. We will take on the major parties, which have failed the British people time and time again.

However, success for anti-EU candidates in Westminster elections has not followed from European poll success historically, with the UK Independence Party’s best general election showing being Paul Smyth’s second place in South West Norfolk in 2015.