People’s Vote to support 100-plus candidates at election
The cross-party group has named a list of candidates they will back to try to topple the Conservative Party and trigger a new Brexit referendum.
Dominic Grieve, Chuka Umunna and Rosie Duffield head the list of more than 100 candidates who will receive backing from the People’s Vote group in a bid to topple the Tories in the election.
The cross-party group will lend financial and campaign support to its “PV100″ list of candidates, chosen in key seats in hope of engineering a Conservative defeat and forcing a second Brexit referendum.
“These seats are the PV100 – the seats that will decide the election,” People’s Vote said in a statement.
“It’s especially important that our supporters vote tactically here to secure a final say referendum. If they don’t, Boris Johnson will win this election and we will leave with his deal.”
While the list in fact comprises 112 candidates in key seats, one omission is Anna Soubry, who is fighting to hold Broxtowe for Change UK after winning it for the Tories with a majority of just 863 votes at the last election.
Mr Grieve is running as an independent in Beaconsfield, having held the seat for 22 years as a Tory MP before becoming one of 21 MPs who lost the Conservative whip in September.
Mr Umunna, formerly a Labour MP but now the Lib Dems, is a candidate for the Conservative-held Cities of London and Westminster.
And Ms Duffield is the incumbent Labour MP for Canterbury, having won it in 2017 with a majority of less than 200.
Lib Dem candidate Tim Walker withdrew from the race for Canterbury on Tuesday to help Ms Duffield win and keep out Tory Brexiteer Anna Firth. The Lib Dems, however, say they will field another candidate in the seat.
“At this general election,” Mr Grieve said, “choice in respect of individual candidates may well make a massive difference to our country’s future, depending on their attitude to a people’s vote.
“I recommend the People’s Vote tactical voting site, as providing useful information on which to base their vote.”
Others on the PV100 list include Labour stalwart Dennis Skinner, who holds the strong Leave constituency of Bolsover with an 11% majority, and ex-Labour-turned-Lib Dem candidate Luciana Berger in the Tory-held Finchley and Golders Green.
Voters can visit the People’s Vote website to learn more about the group’s recommended candidates.
“The PV100 candidates were selected using sophisticated analysis of both public and private polling, including data from general, local and EU election results… and constituency specific data,” People’s Vote said.
“Ahead of the election, the People’s Vote tactical voting site will recommend a candidate in almost every seat, but today’s announcement stresses the particular importance of voting tactically for the PV100 candidates.
“When voters in these key constituencies use the site for recommendations, the significance of the PV100 candidate will be sign-posted.”
