The Observer - 04.08.2019

Section:OBS 2N PaGe:33 Edition Date:190804 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 3/8/2019 17:24 cYanmaGentaYellowbla

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33

Forget party lines.

It’s time to unite

F

or the fi rst time in

many months, voters

terrifi ed at the pros-

pect of a no-deal Brexit

and who are desper-

ate to stop the impend-

ing car crash have a renewed sense

of hope. It’s not just that Jane Dodds ,

the newly elected Liberal Democrat

MP for Brecon and Radnorshire , will

be a great representative, of which

I’m sure – it’s more signifi cant than

that. If I had a pound for every exas-

perated person who asked me why

the Remain parties couldn’t get

their act together during the recent

European elections, I’d be typing

this from a tropical island with a

cocktail on the go.

Millions of people in Britain are

looking to their MPs to step up, put

traditional party allegiances aside

and work together in the national

interest. By not fi elding candi-

dates in the Brecon by election,

the other Remain parties – princi-

pally the Greens, Plaid Cymru, the

Independent Group for Change, and

Renew – have demonstrated it is

indeed possible. Halle-bloody-lujah.

Coming to politics from business

and being elected as MP for South

Cambridgeshire in 2015 , party trib-

alism is anathema to me. In this job,

shouldn’t we all be working in the

country’s best interests? And on the

big issues, shouldn’t we be search-

ing for the right and best answers,

blind to the colour of a rosette?

Wildly optimistic – even naive,

you may think – but I make no apol-

ogies for feeling that passionately.

And on the biggest issue facing the

UK’s economic future and security

for generations, I’ll keep pushing for

cross-party working for as long as

I’m privileged to be in a position of

infl uence.

So hats off to the leaders of those

Remain parties and independent

MPs who believe we have to try, too.

The threat of a Boris Johnson pre-

miership is no longer a threat – it’s

a living, breathing, capital punish-

Brecon showed us

how ditching tribal

loyalties can truly work

to help halt the Brexit

car crash. A coalition

of hope is t he on ly way,

writes MP Heidi Allen

ment-supporting home secretary,

billion-pound no-deal spending

chancellor reality. And it terrifi es me.

But there is an antidote in the

form of an alliance. Unite to Remain ,

a project I launched a few weeks ago

in anticipation of a general election,

seeks similar agreements to that

secured in the Brecon by election in

as many seats across England and

Wales as would make a difference.

And we must do this, because

if we continue to work along tra-

ditional party lines, we will split

our vote, allowing the ideological

fringes of our politics to win. Think

Johnson, think Nigel Farage, think

Jeremy Corbyn. I think not.

I’ve been inspired by the reaction

and enthusiasm of the Remain par-

ties and independent MPs. Their

determination, progressive and

country-fi rst thinking have sur-

passed my expectations. This is the

maturity I’ve been desperate to see

in my fellow MPs – what a shame it

was in such short supply in the party

I once represented.

Acting as the facilitator – provid-

ing resources, latest polling, data

insights and donations in the big-

gest drive yet to equalise the ability

of Remain parties and free-think-

ing independent MPs – Unite to

ties and fragility of relationships in

Northern Ireland”.

Close observers said his itiner-

ary was signifi cant not just in terms

of where he chose to go but also

the places he chose to avoid. “They

know very well that what they are

asking for from the EU [in terms of a

new Brexit deal], the EU is not going

to give,” said one veteran of Theresa

May’s team. “That is why they are

not going to EU capitals. It would

be visible activity to no useful end.

But whenever you take on the job,

you need quickly to be able to say

you have visited the four nations of

the union.”

By Friday morning, Johnson’s tra-

vails had been compounded by los-

ing the Brecon and Radnorshire

by election and further reducing

his wafer-thin working majority.

Yet even some of the new gov-

ernment’s fi ercest critics believe

that, while Johnson’s opening days

have been far from fl awless, he has

been spared more serious politi-

cal fallout by opinion polls appear-

ing to show a “Boris bounce”, and a

strange hiatus that has descended

on Westminster just as he has

taken offi ce.

“It is a most peculiar atmosphere,”

said one senior Tory concerned

about Johnson’s Brexit plans. “So

many people are on holiday. They

are literally in Spain or Portugal or

France. They can follow all of this on

their iPads, but Boris has been given

pretty free rein .”

Westminster is always eerily quiet

as its summer recess starts, but this

W

Friday

“Dodgy but stable.”

Not an assessment of

Johnson’s fi rst full week

in Downing St, but the

new prime minister’s

description of the

damaged dam at Whaley

Bridge , Derbyshire.

Johnson visits the town

after residents fl ee their

homes amid fears that

the dam could collapse.

Thursday

New chancellor Sajid

Javid, below, sets

aside an extra £2.1bn

for no-deal Brexit

preparations. Th is takes

total no-deal spending

this year to £6.3bn.

Meg Hillier , chair of

the Commons public

accounts committee,

accuses Johnson of

spending “taxpayers’

money like water,

throwing good money

after bad”.

ON

OTHER

PAGES

Left needs a

radical change

Observer

Comment,

page 40

Johnson’s

clock counts

down

Andrew

Rawnsley,

Comment,

page 41

Tory claims

are empty

Nick Cohen,

page 48

Remain will help to break through

the fi rst-past-the-post electoral

system.

And the prize for breaking every

party allegiance rule? Returning

a signifi cant number of multi-

party, pro-Remain, outward-look-

ing, global, progressive MPs to

Westminster – and then we shift the

Brexit dial and change the path our

country is heading down.

Beyond remaining in the EU,

pushing for proportional represen-

tation and faster action on climate

change, I don’t expect this coali-

tion of hope to agree on everything

and last for ever. But for one general

election only, I know we can do this.

Heidi Allen, once a Tory MP, is now

an independent MP and is chair of the

cross-party initiative Unite to Remain

Comment

Continued overleaf

And the prize for

breaking every party

allegiance rule?

Shifting the Brexit

dial and changing

our country’s path

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