Nigel Farage says there's 'no way' Britain would rejoin the EU

As Britain prepares to leave the European Union tonight, the Brexit Party’s leader says he is ‘optimistic’ about passing ‘the point of no return’.

Nigel Farage called the country’s departure from the bloc a ‘victory of ordinary people against the establishment’ and said there is no way it will ever rejoin.

Having spent nearly 21 years in the European Parliament, he said ‘getting your P45 is always a strange thing’ and that he will miss the drama of Brussels.

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain today, he said: ‘I walked at random into a pub at Westminster last night and the party had already started.

‘I’m getting texts from people, there are fireworks parties, there are millions of people who are overjoyed.

‘This is an incredible victory of ordinary people against the establishment, and what it shows you, whatever the faults in our country, we’re still a democracy.

‘The truth of it is the country is uniting. A lot of people who voted remain say look we’re a democracy, this needs to happen, and the general view out there is let’s just get on with this.’

He dismissed a number of ‘scare stories’ surrounding Brexit as ‘utter rubbish’, including the idea that people won’t be able to travel across Europe after the UK’s departure.

The former UKIP leader said leaving the EU will give Britain a chance to become ‘more competitive and more attractive to the rest of the world’.

He added: ‘I think we’ve obsessed too much about Europe, there’s a big, big world out there – 85% of the world’s economy is outside the Eurozone, Brexit gives us the freedom to embrace that.’

Reflecting on his 27 years of campaigning Farage said fighting for a divorce with Brussels ‘took over his life’.

He added: ‘I closed down my business I just dedicated myself to this completely. It’s an odd moment, because if you want something so very much it becomes difficult to believe it will ever happen.’

The arch-Brexiteer decided used to work in the commodities and currencies markets before deciding to step into the world of politics to campaign against joining the Euro.

He added: ‘I met people in the Conservative Party and the Labour Party who agreed with me that it was a mistake, but nobody seemed to really want to fight, nobody seemed to want to really stand up, so I said to hell with it, I’m going to do this.’

Farage confessed that he will miss the drama of Brussels and being the ‘pantomime villain’ of the chamber, but that his ‘dream has been achieved’.

He added: ‘It’s been a massive chapter of my life that’s just come to a close. It’s rather like the last day at school. You walk out, you’re pleased to be leaving, but you’re a little bit apprehensive about the world outside.

‘As for the next phase, all I can say is right now Boris Johnson is saying all the right things. If he delivers those things we will be truly, genuinely independent, I have to be honest I’m feeling pretty optimistic.’

But the Prime Minister’s control of the situation is exactly what Labour peer Lord Mandelson worries about.

Speaking to the programme, he said: ”I’m a patriot I want the best for the country, but we will have to make some pretty big choices.’

He said the ‘economic freedom’ heralded by Boris Johnson will come at the expense of trade, jobs and investment and called for a closer relationship with the European Union that will keep barriers to a minimum.

Taking a swipe at Farage, Mandelson said: ‘He wants to compete with the rest of the world in a bargain basement way.

‘I don’t think that’s what the majority of the country by the way want, but the person who will decide it now is Boris Johnson, he owns the outcome of Brexit and however this negotiation pans out.’

The former EU Commissioner added: ‘Today is not the end of Brexit, it may be the end of Nigel Farage’s giant ego-trip, but it’s only the end of the beginning of Brexit.

‘We have huge decisions that have now got to be taken about how we’re going to forge a relationship with the European Union.’

Lord Mandelson says he accepted the result of the referendum but that he does not want to see ‘endless dispute between Britain and the European Union, endless arbitration, endless tension between ourselves and all our neighbours’.

Speaking to presenters Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard : ‘Whilst he’s still fighting and arguing about why he thinks the EU is good, what was interesting there was he actually accepts Brexit is happening.

‘He says there isn’t going to be a second referendum, we’re not going to rejoin any time soon, and I think that shows even the most ardent remainers now accept the country’s heading off in a different path and let’s make a huge success of it.’

Britain will leave the EU at 11pm UK time but will remain under European regulations for the time being.

The country will then enter an 11-month transition period while both parties thrash out a free trade agreement.

Boris Johnson said he wants a comprehensive deal covering all aspects of Britain’s future relationship with the EU, including security.

The Prime Minister is adamant he will not contemplate any extension of the transition period beyond the end of 2020.