The Observer view on the European elections and Nigel Farage’s malign message | Observer editorial

Neither of the major parties has done enough to challenge the leader of the Brexit party

Across Europe, rightwing nationalist populism is on the march. Britain is no exception. Polls are putting Nigel Farage’s Brexit party in the lead. If it does as well as expected in the European elections, it will be the second time Farage has pulled it off: in 2014, Ukip topped the poll with 27% of the vote. Farage’s relative success is partly the product of his intuitive understanding of how to deploy the populist playbook: whip up public disenchantment with the establishment, accuse the elites of thwarting the will of the people and offer misleadingly simple solutions to complex problems.

With voters so disillusioned with the two main parties, it’s a seductive formula. But his success is at least as much explained by the eagerness of mainstream politicians to yield to his brand of politics, rather than to challenge it. On Europe, Farage has only ever stoked anti-EU sentiment without ever offering constructive fixes. He has consistently got away with telling untruths: that the EU is on the cusp of creating a pan-European army; that EU membership costs the UK £55m a day; that three-quarters of British law is made in Brussels. He has repeatedly praised Norway as a model for the UK’s relationship with the EU in the past, but last week denied it.

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