Campaign tells general election candidates: step aside for a People’s Vote

Campaigners at the People's Vote march in London as MPs vote on Boris Johnson's Brexit deal. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA. - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

Ahead of today’s general election nominations deadline, the People’s Vote campaign is calling on pro-EU candidates to step aside in favour of the 100 who they say have the best chance of beating the Conservatives.

The ‘PV100’ are the pro-second referendum candidates who the People’s Vote campaign say have the best chance of winning in target seats.

MORE: Full list of the 100 seats which will ‘decide the election’The campaign said that since Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party stood down 317 candidates, pro-second referendum candidates should show willingness to put party politics aside for “the greater cause”. The call comes soon after a letter from 54 pro-EU grassroots groups was sent to Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson urging them to work together by strategically standing down candidates to prevent a Conservative majority. READ: Pro-EU groups tell Corbyn and Swinson: work together in this ‘historic national emergency’A People’s Vote spokesperson said: “This election is the most important election of our lifetimes. It will decide our country’s future for decades to come. It will either result in a parliament that supports a People’s Vote or one that backs Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit.”

“We applaud the initiative taken by Tim Walker, the former Liberal Democrat candidate for Canterbury, who made the courageous decision to step aside, and encourage others to do the same.

“Wherever possible, pro-People’s Vote candidates who have the best chance of success, should be unopposed by others who share their commitment to a final-say referendum. We appreciate this would involve a huge personal sacrifice, but this is an opportunity to save our country from a disastrous deal and give the people the final say on Brexit. The stakes have never been higher.”