iStock/Thinkstock(LONDON) — The United Kingdom Independence Party’s (UKIP) only member of parliament has quit the party to become an independent.
Douglas Carswell, who was with the Conservatives until switching to the Brexit-supporting UKIP in 2014, announced the news on his website on Saturday. The 45-year-old said he joined UKIP “because I desperately wanted [Britain] to leave the [European Union. Now we can be certain that that is going to happen, I have decided that I will be leaving UKIP.”
“UKIP might not have managed to win many seats in Parliament, but in a way we are the most successful political party in Britain ever,” Carswell said. “We have achieved what we were established to do – and in doing so we have changed the course of our country’s history for the better.”
Carswell’s news comes ahead of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to trigger Article 50 on Wednesday, which will begin formal negotiations of the U.K.’s exit from the EU.
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