The Observer - 04.08.2019

Section:OBS 2N PaGe:8 Edition Date:190804 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 3/8/2019 18:54 cYanmaGentaYellowblac

• The Observer
  8 04.08.19 News

Politics

Can Richmond

do a Brecon?

Inspired by

win, Remainers

plot a tactical

voting strategy

With a general election

possibly only weeks

away, Zac Goldsmith is

one of 100 MPs whose

constituencies will be

targeted by people’s

vote campaigners –

and whose electorate

will be urged to make

a calculated choice

Brexit-supporting MPs. So, with a

general election possible as early as

next month, are the forces of Remain

uniting at last?

Emerging from a library, Michael

Bull, a retired school teacher and a

Labour voter in the past, hopes they

are. He says alliances must be formed

in areas like Richmond to ensure the

pro-EU vote does not split.

“We need more of that kind of

together and temporarily relegate

party loyalties: “Millions of people are

looking to their MPs to step up, put

traditional allegiances aside and work

together in the national interest,” she

writes. “By not fi elding candidates

in the Brecon by election, the other

Remain parties have demonstrated it

is possible. Halle-bloody-lujah.”

But while local agreements like

that in Brecon Radnorshire will be

Toby

Helm

Politics Editor

People’s

vote targets

marginal

Tory seats

number of MPs who support putting

the issue back to the people, they can

then win a Commons vote to trigger a

second vote and reverse Brexit.

An internal strategy paper written

by the director of the People’s Vote

campaign , James McGrory , predicts

that “tactical voting will be a bigger

factor than in any previous election

fought in the UK”. It says that while

alliances between Remain parties

may be formed in some areas and be

helpful, his organisation’s priorities

will be “more about individuals than

political parties”.

thing in places like this,” he says. “ If

Labour had stood down here in 2017

the Lib Dems would have won again

last time. Brexit is such an important

issue, we have to break the mould.”

The former Tory MP Heidi Allen ,

who recently formed Unite to

Remain , an organisation in favour

of Remain alliances across the UK,

writes today in the Observer that it is

time for Remain politicians to come

Continued from page 1 Key seats in the PV100 target list

include Richmond, where the pro-

Brexit Tory MP Zac Goldsmith has

a majority of 45 over the Lib Dems;

Chingford and Woodford Green ,

where the former Tory leader Iain

Duncan Smith has a majority of only

2,438 over Labour; and Chipping

Barnet , wh ich Theresa Villiers , the

secretary of state for environment,

food and rural affairs, won at the 2017

election by just 353 votes over Labour.

The PV campaign will also fi ght

to defend pro-referendum sitting

MPs including the Liberal Democrat

Layla Moran in Oxford West and

Abingdon , who ousted the Tory

Nicola Blackwood by just 816 at the

2017 general election.

McGrory says campaign struc-

tures and teams will be set up for all

the seats, and that voters will be tar-

geted digitally. “In some cases we will

be asking Labour supporters to vote

for other parties such as the Liberal

Democrats. In many others we will

be asking supporters of the Liberal

Democrats, the Greens or others to

vote Labour. This is based on noth-

ing more than the hard-headed

acknowledgement of which party is

best placed to beat an opponent of the

people’s vote,” he said.

“In marginal seats where the

Labour candidate does not support a

people’s vote on any Brexit outcome,

we will not give our backing. But we

recognise that we will be asking some

of our supporters to ‘hold their noses’

and vote for a party they dislike. We

hope this will be a one-off based

solely on the importance of secur-

ing a democratic people’s vote on the

most crucial issue of our generation.”

Boris Johnson has insisted he is

not planning an early general election

before the UK is due to leave the EU

on 31 October. But many MPs believe

that the prime minister will call one

early next month if he cannot secure

an improved deal with the EU, and

On a hot Friday afternoon in

Richmond upon Thames not

everyone is keen to talk about Brexit.

“I’d rather not, if you don’t mind,” says

a middle-aged woman, making clear

she would much prefer to carry on

reading her novel in peace in the park.

A few benches away a young man

enjoying his lunch break raises his

hand. “Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t

want to go there,” he says.

But Brexit divides people in all

ways, and others in this well-to-do

part of west London, which returned

a pro-Brexit Tory MP, Zac Goldsmith ,

at the last general election despite

being predominantly a Remain area,

are more than willing to engage.

It is the day after the Brecon and

Radnorshire by election that saw the

Liberal Democrats oust the sitting

Tory MP Chris Davies , reducing

Boris Johnson’s Commons majority

to just one in the process. The other

Remain parties, including the Greens

and Plaid Cymru, agreed not to stand

candidates and helped the Lib Dems

across the line in the Welsh seat.

In Richmond, which Goldsmith

regained from the Lib Dem s in 2017

by just 45 votes , the Welsh result was

registered by local pro-EU voters as

a ray of hope – the possible start of

a fi ghtback in which Remain parties

could begin to work together to defeat

РЕЛИЗ

ПОДГОТОВИЛА

ГРУППА

"What's News"

VK.COM/WSNWS

РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS