‘Unprecedented’ campaign urges Labour and Lib Dem candidates to swap endorsements in 10 key seats

Activist Femi Oluwole (left) has called for Labour and Lib Dem candidates with a minimal vote share in key marginal seats ro endorse the candidate for the other party. Photo: Aaron Chown / PA - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

Labour and Lib Dem candidates with a minimal vote share in key marginal seats are being urged to endorse the candidate for the other party who, in their seat, are most likely to defeat Boris Johnson’s Brexit candidates.

Femi Oluwole, the co-founder of Our Future, Our Choice (OFOC) launched a petition calling for the Liberal Democrat candidates in 10 important Labour-Tory marginal seats to endorse the Labour candidate, in return for the Labour candidates in 10 Lib Dem-Tory marginal seats to return the favour.

Currently in the 20 seats Femi refers to, YouGov’s MRP model believes 16 will elect Tory MPs. In the four other constituencies, the Tories are a very narrow second, with two Lib Dem and Labour MPs elected each.

However, if the candidates in these seats pair up and do deals as the petition calls for, instead of 16 of the 20 MPs elected in these seats being supportive of Boris Johnson, 10 Lib Dem and Labour MPs would be elected.

Oluwole says a candidate endorsement swap like this is unprecedented in UK electoral history.

He said: “Many candidates are standing in seats where the 2017 result and current polling show they have no chance of winning. All they’ll do is take votes from the candidate most likely to beat the Tory and let the Tories win.

“That’s the picture we are seeing around the country. These candidates need to endorse the candidates most likely to beat the Tories in their area.

“Sign the change.org petition if you don’t want our country to be trapped in seven more years of Brexit purgatory against the wishes of the majority of the British people.”

OFOC say that due to the ‘swap’ nature of the deal, a candidate agreeing to do the swap would not just be helping elect an anti-Boris Johnson MP in their own seat but helping a candidate of their own party win a marginal seat elsewhere.

A link to the petition can be found here.According to OFOC, Here are the seats where the Lib Dem candidates should tell their supporters to vote for the Labour candidate:

1. Stockton South – Brendan Devlin

2. Bedford – Henry Vann

3. Sedgefield – Dawn Welsh

4. Lincoln – Caroline Kenyon

5. Warrington South – Ryan Bate

6. Harrow East – Adam Bernard

7. Workington – Neil Hughes

8. Bishop Auckland – Ray Georgeson

9. Ipswich – Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett

10. Wakefield – Jamie Needle

And here are the seats where the Labour candidate should tell their supporters to vote for the Lib Dem candidate:

1. Guildford – Anne Crouse