Farage and Calexit

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The 'Bad Boys of Brexit' who led the campaign to break Britain away from the European Union have taken on a new exit challenge: splitting California into two states. Former UKip leader Nigel Farage and Leave backer Arron Banks have just returned from the United States, where they helped raise $1million (£800,000) for a 'Calexit' campaign, which would split California into two eastern and western regions. There are several 'Calexit' campaigns competing for a referendum in the United States, with one aiming to remove the state from America entirely as a response to President Donald Trump being elected last year. Farage and Banks, who led the 'Leave.EU' campaign, appear to be pitting the eastern, more rural side of California against the western 'coastal elite' liberals in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

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If broken apart, the eastern part of California would more likely vote Republican, giving the party two more senators and electoral college votes for a 2020 presidential election. The Western side of the state would likely continue to vote Democrat in elections. Farage and Banks' goal is to hold a referendum during the US midterm elections in 2018, according to The Sunday Times. Banks said of the campaign: 'It would be portrayed as the Hollywood elites versus the people, breaking up the bad government. Seventy-eight per cent of people in California are unhappy with their government. It's the world's sixth largest economy and it's very badly run.'

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'This has been done before with West Virginia and Virginia and North and South Dakota, so it can work,' he said. Banks added: 'We were saying that people said the same about Brexit — and we just went and did it. The money was pledged to take it to the next level. This could be the greatest political showdown ever.' Gunster has helped win 30 state referendums in America and predicted the EU vote within .01 per cent. In California, 365,800 people have to sign a petition for a proposition to appear on a ballot. With a population of nearly 40 million, California is one of the most diverse states in America, with whites outnumbered by Hispanics and members of other ethnic groups, In 2015, it also had the sixth largest economy in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund -- ahead of France and India. In November's election, the state broke nearly two-to-one in favor of Trump's Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Another Calexit campaign emerging, called Yes California, would see the state seceding from America entirely. Should that initiative make it on the ballot, a 'Yes' vote would repeal clauses in the California Constitution 'stating California is an inseparable part of the United States and that the United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land,' a statement from California's Secretary of State Alex Padilla's office said.

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