Britain First and Ukip 'Talking Regularly' in Rochester and Strood, Claims Far-Right Candidate

A far-right activist has dismissed claims by Ukip campaigners that they posed for a photo with her "by mistake" in Rochester and Strood.

Jayda Fransen, who will contest the constituency's forthcoming by-election as a candidate for Britain First, also said her party is in regular contact with the Ukip team, and they share "almost identical" policies.

Fransen told IBTimes UK: "Actually we often speak with their [Ukip's] campaign team.

"The people in the picture were speaking with us about politics and knew who we were, so [the claim by Ukip that they posed under false pretenses] is wrong."

Fransen also repeated her support for Ukip's Rochester candidate Mark Reckless, claiming she wants him to win the by-election, even though they are rival candidates.

She said: "We fully support Mark Reckless because he is on the right side of politics and we [Britain First] are on the same page together. We are encouraging people to vote Ukip.

"Ukip policies are almost identical to ours; they are the only party which is speaking on issues like immigration and religion. We know Ukip has to play the political game by distancing themselves from us and we understand that entirely."

Reckless has taken steps to distance himself from Britain First by posting on Twitter about his "anger" with its activists.

A Ukip spokesman also rejected Fransen's "identical policies" claim, saying: "We have no connection with Britain First and no association with them."

Britain First is a BNP splinter group, opposing what it calls the 'Islamification' of the UK.

Fransen admitted she is standing in Rochester and Strood only to oppose mosque-building in the area. Britain First's leader Paul Golding this week threatened to a bury a pig on a proposed mosque site in Birmingham, in the hope of making it "unclean" to Muslims.

One far-right watcher, Matthew Collins, predicted Britain First is heading for electoral oblivion in Rochester and Strood, and claimed it has little chance of pulling off the sort of shock victories achieved by the BNP in recent years.

"They have told people to vote Ukip because they know they're going to lose their deposit," Collins told IBTimes UK. "They have an active social media operation, [...] but have not been able to translate the online support in to boots on the street."