‘Where’s Nigel?’: Billboards target absent Farage on day two of Brexit march

Marchers on a two-week Brexit protest were confronted with signs asking “where’s Nigel?” as they marched through the north of England without figurehead Nigel Farage.

The former Ukip leader spearheaded the launch of the March to Leave from Sunderland on Saturday in heavy wind and rain, but was not present as it continued south through Middlesbrough on its second day.

The protest will culminate in London on March 29, the day Britain is due to leave the European Union, where Mr Farage is expected to rejoin the group for a mass rally in Parliament Square.

The demonstrators have been met along the way by anti-Brexit campaigners Led By Donkeys, who have placed billboards on the route taking aim at Mr Farage.

In a tweet, the group said: “An opportunist politician conceived a scheme that was undeliverable. He persuaded members of the public to make sacrifices to further it and recruited millionaires to bankroll it. And when it failed he simply walked away. The #MarchToLeave is just a 14 day metaphor for Brexit.”

Led By Donkeys also posted drone footage which appeared to show a crowd of dozens of demonstrators, claiming Mr Farage should “apologise to those marchers for this farce”.

But Richard Tice, co-chair of Leave Means Leave, which is organising the rally, tweeted: “Huge support in Middlesbrough on March to Leave day 2. Ordinary voters furious at Parliament betraying Brexit.”

The campaign’s website says tickets to be “core marchers”, who pay £50 to get fully-paid accommodation, breakfast and dinner for the duration of the 14-day event, have sold out.

Leading the event on Saturday, Mr Farage said: “If you see what has been happening in Parliament this week, we may well not be leaving the EU.

“If politicians think they can walk all over us, then we’re going to march back and tell them they can’t. Simple as that.”