Home NEWS General election: Full list of 60 ‘Remain alliance’ seats as Lib Dems, Greens and Plaid Cymru agree pact

General election: Full list of 60 ‘Remain alliance’ seats as Lib Dems, Greens and Plaid Cymru agree pact

by admin2 admin2
16 views
General election: Full list of 60 ‘Remain alliance’ seats as Lib Dems, Greens and Plaid Cymru agree pact

Details have been released of the 60 seats in which Liberal Democrats, Greens and Plaid Cymru will stand down candidates in a “Remain Alliance“ to maximise the chances of electing anti-Brexit MPs in the 12 December general election.

The fervently Brexit-backing foreign secretary Dominic Raab is the most high-profile target of the electoral pact, with Greens standing aside for Liberal Democrats in his Esher & Walton constituency.

Despite Mr Raab’s dominant 39-point lead in the 2017 general election, Jo Swinson’s party has hopes of making inroads into the Surrey constituency, following the release of polling suggesting “seismic” shifts from Tories to Lib Dems in the heavily Remain-backing constituencies of the commuter belt around London.

Download the new Indpendent Premium app

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

Former cabinet minister Alun Cairns – who stood down as Welsh Secretary on Wednesday – is also among the Tory MPs affected by the pact, with Lib Dems and Plaid standing aside to allow the Greens to fly the Remain banner in his constituency.

But, despite calls for Mr Cairns’ resignation over his links with a man blamed for a collapsed rape trial, his Vale of Glamorgan seat is a long-shot for the Remain Alliance, with the three Remain parties mustering only 8 per cent of the vote between them in the 2017 election, when Labour came a close second to the Tories.

Green co-leader Jonathan Bartley will benefit from having no Lib Dem opponent in Dulwich and West Norwood, while once again Lib Dems will step aside for the party’s former leader Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavilion.

leftCreated with Sketch.
rightCreated with Sketch.

Lib Dems will be given a clear run at Zac Goldsmith’s Richmond Park constituency, where they briefly unseated the Brexit-backing environment minister in a 2016 by-election only to lose the heavily Remain-backing seat in the general election eight months later.

Other commuter-belt seats where Greens will stand aside on behalf of Lib Dems include former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt’s South West Surrey, as well as Guildford – where former Tory minister Anne Milton is fighting her former party as an independent – Hitchin & Harpenden, Tunbridge Wells, Watford and Heidi Allen’s former seat of South Cambridgeshire.

The full list of seats covered by the Unite to Remain agreement, with the party set to fight each seat, is:

England 

The latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox

Green Party: Brighton, Pavilion, Isle of Wight, Bristol West, Bury St Edmunds, Stroud, Dulwich and West Norwood, Forest of Dean, Cannock Chase, Exeter.

Liberal Democrats: Bath, Bermondsey and Old Southwark, Buckingham, Cheadle, Chelmsford, Chelsea and Fulham, Cheltenham, Chippenham, Esher and Walton, Finchley and Golders Green, Guildford, Harrogate and Knaresborough, Hazel Grove, Hitchin and Harpenden, North Cornwall, North Norfolk, Oxford West and Abingdon, Penistone and Stocksbridge, Portsmouth South, Richmond Park, Romsey and Southampton, North Rushcliffe, South Cambridgeshire, South East Cambridgeshire, South West Surrey, Southport, Taunton Deane, Thornbury and Yate, Totnes, Tunbridge Wells, Twickenham, Wantage, Warrington South, Watford, Wells, Westmorland and Lonsdale, Wimbledon, Winchester, Witney, York Outer.

Wales

Green Party: Vale of Glamorgan.

Liberal Democrats: Brecon and Radnorshire, Cardiff Central, Montgomeryshire.

Plaid Cymru: Arfon, Caerphilly, Carmarthen East and Dinefwr Dwyfor, Meirionnydd, Llanelli, Pontypridd, Ynys Mon.

In addition to these arrangements, Liberal Democrats confirmed that they are also stepping aside in Beaconsfield, where prominent Remainer Dominic Grieve is fighting his seat as an independent after being expelled from the Conservative party, as well as the Broxtowe seat of Independent Group for Change leader Anna Soubry and the Luton South constituency of IGC MP Gavin Shuker.

Ms Swinson said: ​“I am delighted that this arrangement will help elect more pro-Remain MPs in the next Parliament.

“In the 43 seats agreed today, as well as hundreds more across the country, it is clear that the Liberal Democrats are the strongest party of Remain.

“A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to stop Brexit, so that we can invest the £50 billion Remain bonuses in our public services and build a brighter future.”

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said the arrangements represents “the kind of grown-up politics that people expect”.

“For three and a half years, Westminster has been in a constant state of Brexit crisis. Now is the time to put country before party, to put people before politics, and to embrace the common good,” said Mr Price.

“With Johnson and Corbyn, all we get is more Brexit chaos, continued crisis and paralysis, and Wales at the back of the queue. But to end the chaos through a People’s Vote, to build a new Wales, and to put Wales first, it’s us.”

Mr Bartley said: “This is about recognising how damaging Brexit would be – for people and for the environment – and ensuring there is as much representation of Remain parties in the next Parliament as possible. 

“Our country is at a crossroads and this election must be the point at which we start to move in a better direction. Everyone knows the Greens are the least tribal of any party and we are always willing to work with others for what’s in the best interests of the country.”

You may also like

Leave a Comment