General election: Brexit 'offers chance to reboot UK economy'

Leaving the EU will be an opportunity to "reboot the British economy", a Brexit Party candidate has said.

Stuart Waiton argued democracy had been "undermined" by the failure to deliver Brexit more than three years after the referendum.

He said many people across the UK were disillusioned with the country's institutions and traditional political parties.

And he said change was needed so democracy can "re-emerge" in Britain.

Mr Waiton is one of 14 Brexit Party election candidates who are standing in Scottish seats in the election on 12 December.

The party set out its election pledges last month, with leader Nigel Farage describing the 22-page document as a "contract with the people" rather than a manifesto.

In an interview with BBC Scotland's political editor Brian Taylor, Mr Waiton said he believed Brexit was a "matter of democracy" that would allow the country to make its own rules and its own laws.

Mr Waiton said: "It is about involving the public in decision making and giving them a genuine involvement in policies like immigration or to do with the criminal justice system or whatever it is.

"I think there's a disconnect between the public and public institutions and I think that needs to change.

"And I think the British economy is sluggish. We need to reboot the economy and I think we need to have a new industrial revolution, with new industries that are far more productive."

He also argued that all of the other political parties, including the Conservatives and Labour, had attempted to "dilute and undermine" the Brexit vote to varying degrees.

And he said he feared Prime Minister Boris Johnson "will end up being the person who undermines Brexit more than anybody by producing a deal which is very similar to Theresa May's deal".

This would "dilute what Brexit means to the extent where how much sovereignty and independence we actually end up with is extremely debateable", he said.

Mr Waiton, who is standing in Dundee West, said it was "time for the voice of the people to be heard loud and clear" and highlighted minimum alcohol pricing and the smacking ban as policies which had enjoyed widespread support from Scottish politicians, but which had left "the vast majority of people scratching their heads".

He claimed: "I think that kind of patronising attitude is reflected in the anti-democratic nature of all of the political parties to some extent, but in Scotland the SNP in particular."

The other candidates standing in Dundee West are the SNP's Chris Law, Labour's Jim Malone, the Conservatives' Tess White, Daniel Coleman for the Liberal Democrats, and the Christian Peoples' Quinta Arrey.

The Brexit Party originally had 15 candidates in Scotland but one - Victor Farrell - was suspended amid allegations he had made homophobic comments in online videos.

His name will still appear on the ballot paper in Glenrothes because he was suspended after nominations closed.

Separately, Louis Stedman-Bryce - who had been a Brexit Party MEP for Scotland - quit as a general election candidate in protest at its decision not to field candidates in seats held by the Tories.

Mr Stedman-Bryce subsequently quit the party altogether, and is now an independent MEP.

The SNP wants Scotland and the UK as a whole to remain in the EU, and has backed calls for another Brexit referendum - although it says Brexit should be cancelled altogether if it is the only alternative to leaving without a deal. Ultimately, the party wants Scotland to become an independent member of the EU.

The Conservatives officially back leaving the EU, and support Boris Johnson's revised Withdrawal Agreement that would see the country exiting on 31 January 2020.

Labour wants to renegotiate the terms of Brexit and hold another referendum on that versus staying in the EU within six months of the general election.

The Liberal Democrats say they would cancel Brexit if they win a majority at the election, but will otherwise continue to push for another referendum.

The Scottish Greens also want to stay in the EU and see independence from the UK as the best way to achieve that.