TIGgers want Lib Dem voters and donors for gains in EU and general elections

It also rules out working with the party, saying: ‘No mergers, pacts or alliances'

Memo reveals they to target their backers and approach the top six by May

The Independent Group of defector MPs is planning to wipe out the Liberal Democrats and replace them as a party, a leaked strategy document reveals.

The group of former Labour and Tory MPs, known as TIGgers, states that its objective is to defeat the Lib Dems so there is just a ‘single party… for progressive politics at the next General Election’.

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It plans to directly target Lib Dem voters and donors and to compete with the party on its own issues.

It also rules out working with the party, saying: ‘No mergers, pacts or alliances.’

A leaked Change UK memo has revealed that plan to give the Lib Dems a bruising and grab their money and members

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The strategy will come as a surprise to the Lib Dems who made overtures to the group and even suggested an electoral non-aggression pact.

Change UK candidate is forced to quit over Romanian pickpockets tweet Ali Sadjady (pictured above) agreed to step down as a candidate A Change UK candidate was forced to resign hours after he was unveiled when it emerged he had made offensive comments about Romanian pickpockets. Ali Sadjady, a former Tory standing for the new pro-Remain party in the European Parliament elections, was accused of hate speech against EU members. ‘When I hear that 70 per cent of pickpockets caught on the London Underground are Romanian, it kind [of] makes me want Brexit,’ Mr Sadjady wrote in a tweet in November 2017. Last night, after the Independent newspaper reported the comments, a Change UK spokesman said: ‘Following discussions, Ali Sadjady has reflected on his inappropriate tweet from 2017 and agreed to stand down from the list of potential candidates.’

Under the heading ‘strategy’, the document says the group need to: ‘1. Win over LD [Lib Dem] activists and members to the TIG cause - to win over as supporters.

‘2. Attract support and resources from LD backers.’

Under another heading ‘tactics’, the group say they plan to attract more MPs to TIG so that they ‘exceed LDs’.

They will also attempt to grow their supporter list and increase their Twitter followers so they have more than the Lib Dems.

Most worryingly for the party, TIG plan to target their backers, setting out plans to approach the top six individuals by next month.

In its bid to become the only progressive party, the TIG will also directly compete with the Lib Dems on their own key issues like electoral reform and civil liberties.

And they plan to advertise public pledges of support by Lib Dem members and activists to encourage others to defect to them.

The group will, however, work with the Lib Dems on Brexit and mental health, according to the document.

It will come as unwelcome news for the party leader Sir Vince Cable who has made overtures to the TIGs.

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The former business secretary in the coalition government once offered to strike an electoral pact of non-aggression in seats of interest to both parties.

He also offered to work with the group on Brexit and other issues they could align on.

But the leaked document reveals the TIGgers actually plan to directly compete with and win ground from the Lib Dems.

Rachel Johnson at the launch of The Independent Group European election campaign. She will strand in the south-west region

The centrist grouping was formed after eight Labour MPs and three Tories quit their parties to form a new movement.

The group has announced plans to form a political party called Change UK, though it has encountered resistance from the similarly-named Change.org petitions site.

Though former Labour MP Chuka Umunna was widely expected to become leader, former Tory MP Heidi Allen has stepped into the role as an interim leader.

The party plans to fight the next election, but was expected to focus on defeating its former parties, rather than the Lib Dems.

Yesterday, a Lib Dem source cast doubt on the wisdom of the TIG strategy, saying: ‘We’ve always found TIG to be somewhat disorganised, and at times naïve about how to fight elections within the confines of the first past the post system.

‘England is about to elect 9,000 councillors, and as far as we are aware not a single TIG candidate is standing.’

A spokesman for the Lib Dems said: ‘We have extended the hand of friendship to TIG, and will continue to work with people across the political spectrum to secure a People’s Vote, stop Brexit and break the two party system.’

A spokesman for The Independent Group said: ‘We hope to attract the support of people from across the mainstream, and from all of the establishment political parties, in order to rebuild the centre of British politics.’

‘In doing so we were clear from the time of our launch that we hope to attract support from all of those people who feel politically homeless and let down by the existing parties.’

Rachel Johnson was announced as a European election candidate for Change UK. She will stand in the South West against Annunziata Rees-Mogg, who signed up to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.

Former BBC Newsnight presenter Gavin Esler will also be a Change UK candidate.

Miss Johnson insisted that standing as a candidate for Change UK was not a vote against her brother. ‘I’m sure that Boris understands why this is not a vote against Boris,’ she said.

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In an interview with the London Evening Standard, Miss Johnson said she did not want to see Brexit ‘rubbing out’ her children’s chances of living, travelling and working in Europe. Taking a swipe at her Brexiteer brother, she added: ‘These are chances that the politicians who decided to campaign to Leave have enjoyed themselves. It is simply not fair – and sometimes one has to stand up and be counted. It is now that time for me.’

She said she had called her brother to tell him she was running, but declined to reveal his reaction. She has previously supported the Liberal Democrats.

In his speech yesterday, Mr Esler condemned Mr Farage and Mr Rees-Mogg as ‘pretend men of the people’ and the ‘posers of Brexit’ who were ‘selling the same old snake oil’. He added: ‘They claim to speak for the people – they do not. They stole our patriotism and I want it back.’

The former BBC journalist said he had not joined a political party before but was ‘seriously worried’ about the future of Britain.

‘Our political system is a joke. It is a worldwide joke,’ he said. ‘They are laughing at us – not with us, at us. It is broken. This country cannot possibly be strong abroad when it is weak at home. We all know any version of Brexit will make us poorer.’

Announcing Change UK’s candidates, interim leader Heidi Allen said they had been chosen from among 3,700 applicants.

Former Tory Miss Allen, MP for South Cambridgeshire, described the party as a ‘pro-Remain alliance’. She said: ‘These elections are a chance to send the clearest possible message. We demand a people’s vote and the right to campaign to remain in the European Union. We are not afraid to say it as clearly as that.’

Other candidates standing for the party include former Tory Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell, former Conservative MP Neil Carmichael, former Liberal Democrat MEP Diana Wallace and former Labour MP Jon Owen Jones.

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European parliamentary elections are due to take place on May 23.