Labour and Tory MPs are preparing to defect to Lib Dems, leadership candidate says Exclusive: Sir Ed Davey said conversations are ongoing with a number of MPs to defect to his party

Liberal Democrat leadership hopeful Sir Ed Davey has said Conservative and Labour MPs are sounding out his party about defecting as a result of Brexit.

Sir Ed, who is battling Jo Swinson to become leader of the party, told i conversations were taking place with opposition MPs to join the Lib Dems as the UK’s exit from the European Union had redrawn the political divide.

“There are some Conservative MPs who are thinking the unthinkable and there are some liberal Labour people who are thinking the unthinkable,” Sir Ed said.

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Conversations to defect

“I am not going to name any individual names. These are conversations that have been taking place over recent months.

And he added: “When we say the tectonic plates of British politics are shifting it’s because they are. And when they are you have these conversations.”

His comments follow the news that six MPs quit Change UK just months after the party was founded in a bid to prevent the UK’s departure from the EU.

Sir Ed said there had been conversations with the MPs about joining the Lib Dems but added it was important to “give them time to come to their own decision” about joining another party.



The former Cabinet minister said his priority would be to introduce legislation to change the legal default should the UK fail to secure a deal by the next deadline from a no deal Brexit to revoking Article 50.

If that was unsuccessful, he said he would support a vote of no confidence in the newly formed Conservative administration in favour of a government of national unity to introduce legislation to stage a second referendum.

Opposed to general election

Sir Ed also ruled out capitalising on the Brexit uncertainty and pushing for a general election to bolster the party’s presence in the Commons, stating his priority is to stop the UK’s withdrawal.



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“My driving force at the moment is to stop Brexit,” he said. “We are not going to do a Boris Johnson, or Jeremy Hunt, or a Theresa May and put party before country. We are going to put country before party and that is to stop Brexit in a democratic way.”

The new leader of the Lib Dems will take over from Vince Cable on 23 July.