Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage declared himself a serious threat to the Labour Party in Cumbria as he swept through the county on a whistle-stop campaign tour.

Arriving in Cumbria initially to challenge what he described as the “patronising” ‘Workington Man’ moniker - the supposed key voter the Conservatives and Labour must capture to win this election - Farage’s address to a Carlisle crowd on Wednesday evening quickly evolved into a scathing attack on Labour’s position on Brexit.

While also taking time in his speech to lambast what he described as Boris Johnson’s “Brexit in name only” deal, prior to taking the stage Farage told The Cumberland News it was Cumbrian Labour voters he predicted would be particularly receptive to his message.

It’s a claim that has been refuted strongly by Labour Party activists in Carlisle who are campaigning to unseat Conservative John Stevenson.

Sitting with a relaxed confidence in a basement room of the Crown and Mitre Hotel ahead of his address to what remained a cheering crowd throughout, Farage spoke assuredly of the impact he predicts his party will have on a party he describes as “run by intellectuals”.

“People feel alienated from the Labour Party in the north of England, particularly because it’s a north London Labour Party run by intellectuals, not people living and working in the north of England,” he said.

“The gap between a London-dominated Labour Party and them is huge.

“There are five million Labour leave voters.

“A lot of them in areas like this, who have been completely betrayed by a London-based Labour Party.

“I think the net effect of what we do will be more on Labour than on the Conservatives.”

As well as Farage’s confidence in his appeal to Cumbrian Labour voters, he also spoke of his conviction that Prime Minister Boris Johnson lacked appeal in the north of England.

“I think Boris is a very southern, very upper-middle class man,” he said.

“That’s not his fault, and he’s got great electoral appeal in London and the Home Counties.

“But I just don’t think there is this level of support for Boris Johnson in the north.”

Farage chuckled when asked if he was not also equally southern and upper-middle class.

“It’s interesting that I’ve always done well in the north, whether you’re talking about my UKIP days, my Brexit Party days, I’ve always done well in the north,” he said.

“Don’t ask me why, maybe it’s my directness.

“I think I do understand people’s struggles. I think I understand what a lot of London policies have done to people’s lives.

“That’s been the case for some years. That’s why I’m here.”

Farage said he recognised an immediate exit from the EU without a deal would cause what he described as “short term” pain for the likes of sheep farmers in Cumbria.

“Short term for sheep farmers, it’ll be very very tough - no question about it,” he said.

“But ultimately I think if we leave with a clean break, ultimately a trade deal of some kind will be done.”

A constant campaigner for tighter immigration controls, Farage maintained his approach to the migration debate was the most “fair-minded” of all party leaders.

“The Labour Party want to sweep it under the carpet and continue the free movement of people [from the EU],” he said.

“We’ve got Boris Johnson who wants amnesties for illegal immigrants.

“With free movement, people come not just to work but to automatically settle and qualify for everything the state has to give. How is that fair? How is that reasonable?”

Refraining to make an exact estimate on the level of success his party would have in Cumbria, Farage nonetheless said he hoped to see a number of Brexit Party MPs elected on December 12.

``I want to see a number of Brexit Party MPs in Parliament, hopefully having the same sort of influence the DUP have had for the last two years,” he said.

“I’ll work with anyone to achieve the right goals.”

Responding to Mr Farage’s Labour claims, the party’s contender in Carlisle, Ruth Alcroft, said: “For Nigel Farage to presume that he knows and understands what people in the north of England wants is quite patronising.

I understand his appeal, what he says resonates strongly with a lot of people. But to say that the Labour Party is a north London Labour Party is just wrong, it’s just untrue.

“We had an announcement yesterday from the Labour Party specifically about moving decision-making powers up out of London and investing in areas like Carlisle.

“That is going to be so important in making sure we have the absolute best for people in the north of England.

“You can’t get more northern than me. I’ve only ever lived north of the M62.”

“I think there’s enough of us who have been in the Labour Party for a long time, who’ve had jobs outside of politics, who have lived in northern cities, in the midlands, who have got a real understanding of life and the difference that politics can make.

“So it’s just not true to call it champagne socialism. It’s the exact opposite. It’s very rooted in people’s real experiences.”

Mrs Alcroft says she is not seeing a shift from Labour to the Brexit Party on the doorsteps while out campaigning.

She added: “There are some who feel that what Nigel Farage says really resonates with how they feel, and I don’t take that away from them.

“If people feel very strongly and they want to leave the EU and that is their main aim, regardless of other policies such as what we do with our health policies and our schools.

“Yes, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell are from the south.

“But there’s an absolute commitment to giving decision-making power back to places like Carlisle.

“When it comes to this election, it’s deeper than just Brexit, and it has to be. We’re about to decide our government for the next five years.”

Lib Dem Julia Algionby is also standing in Carlisle.