A grab bag of cross-party news
Following Plaid’s talk of a possible cross-party Remain deal for the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election, we now have news from the Greens deciding not to stand against Lib Dem Jane Dodds:
Remain alliance in Brecon and Radnor could be on the cards.
Greens have just said they won't stand. Other parties discussing giving Lib Dems a clear run at seat.
— Nick Eardley (@nickeardleybbc) June 27, 2019
The Renew Party is also going to be backing Jane Dodds and the Liberal Democrats:
In the spirit of cooperation, we will campaign for the agreed Liberal Democrat candidate on a shared platform of remaining in the European Union and radical electoral reform.
In other cross-party news, Heidi Allen isn’t planning on joining the Liberal Democrats:
Heidi Allen just told me she’s definitely not joining the Lib Dem’s
There had been a lot of speculation that she might, not least from Lib Dem MPs in last few days thinking she might
Think Allen likely to be coordinations remain parities ahead of a possible GE
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) June 25, 2019
And in news of her former colleague who has now joined the Liberal Democrats:
Great to see @ChukaUmunna using MiniVan! 🔶🔶 https://t.co/gVBBIu8C5M
— Cllr Nick da Costa 🔶 (@nick_dacosta) June 27, 2019
(An explanation of what MiniVAN is can be found here.)
It’s good to see a Remain Alliance could be on the cards in Brecon and Radnor. The question is will the Brexit Party stand against the Tory candidate and thus split the vote?Not putting up a Brexit Party candidate won’t look good for Farage, but at the same time the Tory candidate probably wants to try to retain the seat as a way of clearing his name.
Normally I don’t like seeing parties stand down because it denies the electorate a choice, but with the Brexit issue being so important for now I feel it’s justified. A few years down the line, with Brexit I hope a forgotten memory, we could concentrate on electoral reform.
What on earth does Sam Coates’ third sentence mean?