AN ex-council leader said Labour and the Conservatives are “disintegrating” ahead of the European elections on Thursday.

Warren Morgan, who once led a Labour council in Brighton and Hove but is now standing as an MEP candidate for Change UK in the South East, said he expected voters to desert the two main parties on May 23.

Despite his party polling in sixth place behind the Greens, Mr Morgan said he was optimistic about his pro-EU party’s chances.

He said: “We are the only party that has absolutely no leavers in it. Even the Lib Dems have leavers in them, if you look at their MP for Eastbourne.

“There are a lot of people who are saying that they’re not going to be Conservative or Labour.

“They don’t want to consider the Lib Dems either because of their memories of the coalition government and the Greens definitely aren’t an option.”

Mr Morgan said he believed support for the Lib Dems, who are poised to overtake the Tories in the polls, was over-estimated.

He added: “The Lib Dems got a lot out of the local elections, but they’ve peaked too early.

“[Leader] Vince Cable said he was in favour of putting no deal on a second referendum ballot, which we heavily disagree with. It’s irresponsible.”

But it was Labour and the Conservatives he reserved the biggest barbs for.

Mr Morgan said the Tories are “disintegrating before our eyes” and Labour, his old party, is “fractured”.

He said: “I have been in the Labour Party for 25 years, but Labour is fracturing.

“There’s Momentum, then the whole anti-Semitism issue, which is why I left. There have been more defectors.”

And though Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party has topped national polls ever since the veteran Brexiteer launched his campaign, Mr Morgan was not worried about a Brexit Party blowout on election day.

He said: “Most Brexit Party voters are mostly single issue voters. The Brexit Party is just Ukip rebooted.

“They’re are doing well in polling but then Ukip did in 2014.

“They polled ten per cent higher than they actually won seats, and back then they were in the high 30s.

“Now they have the support of a lot of Conservative politicians and they’re still not doing as well as they did before.

“Nigel Farage has done well but he has got the worst voting record in European Parliament, worse than MEPs who have been away from illness.

“He hasn’t done the job he has been voted in for.”