‘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.
You may also want to watch:
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.
Most Read
- 1 The greatest failure of government in our lifetime
- 2 The bigot we should have called out on day one
- 3 The polling that signals the plight of the Union
- 4 Boris Johnson claims Labour supporters using Universal Credit vote to incite hatred
- 5 Matt Hancock praises free school meals before being reminded he voted against them
- 6 Brexiteer MP ridiculed after calling for free movement of goods between GB and NI
- 7 Brexiteer says he'd never have voted for Brexit 'if we knew we'd lose our jobs'
- 8 Dominic Raab 'not convinced' collapse of fishing businesses would be result of Brexit deal
- 9 James O'Brien schools Brexiteer who refuses to accept new EU-UK trade rules
- 10 Leave EU website suspended after EU registry blocks move to Ireland
"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
2. Wokingham - Annette Medhurst
3. Esher and Walton - Peter Ashurst
4. Winchester - George Baker
5. South Cambridgeshire - Dan Greef
6. Cheadle - Zahid Chauhan
7. Cheltenham - George Penny
8. Carshalton and Wallington - Ahmad Wattoo
9. Lewes - Kate Chappell
10. North Norfolk - Emma Corlett
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.
