FORMER Saints chairman Rupert Lowe has today been named as the Brexit Party's lead candidate for the European Elections in the West Midlands.

Mr Lowe, 61, became the football club's chairman in the mid-1990s and resigned in June 2006 after the club slumped into administration.

He was instrumental in moving the club from The Dell to the new 32,000-seater St Mary's stadium in August 2001.

The club also reached the FA Cup Final in 2003 when they lost 1.0 against Arsenal. Saints also qualified for the UEFA Cup.

Mr Lowe is well-known as a Eurosceptic and in 1997 stood for the Referendum Party in the General Election. He came fourth behind the Tories, Lib Dems and labour with 6.6 per cent of the vote and 3,000 votes. He also played a high-profile role in the 2016 EU referendum.

Now he is the Nigel Farage-founded Brexit Party's number one candidate for the West Midlands region. Should the new party do well he stands a good chance of being elected. The poll is decided on proportional representation and not first past the post.

Mr Lowe joins other well-known Brexit Party candidates including former Conservative minister Ann Widdicombe and Annunziata Rees-Mogg, the sister of the senior Tory backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg.

The party claims to have signed up more than 60,000 supporters and more than 175,000 online followers, and to have raised more than £750,000 in under a month.