Statements on Change UK

Editorial

Following the publication of my previous post urging the Change UK group of MP's to stick with the programme it seems the wishes of most rank & file members (or should I say supporters as there is no formal organisation to belong to) are somewhat shattered by the news of a split.

The bizarre decision to become "independents" makes little sense to me given Heidi Allen's overtures to the Liberal Democrats during the Euro-elections.  However what they now do is their own concern.

What happens next is what supporters on the ground will be asking. The need for a radical party of the centre has not disappeared just because of the actions of a few. Those of us who orientated towards Change UK are not Liberals or we would have gone straight to them. There are thousands of ex-Labour Party members and a good few "One Nation" Conservatives out there looking for a new home. There are others who like myself just want something new.

How this will develop over the next weeks will remain to be seen. The new leader must turn to the task of creating a membership based organisation with constituency organisations as a matter of priority.

This blog will continue to support Change UK and keep readers informed of developments. The game is afoot!

Statement from Change UK MPs

Challenging the established political parties was never going to be easy. But we remain determined to fix Britain’s broken politics and we are in this for the long haul.

You may have heard the news that some of our MPs group have decided to leave Change UK, which is saddening and disappointing just at the moment we need to roll up our sleeves, challenge the Brexit emergency and champion sensible evidence-based policy-making in the face of the main parties drifting to the ideological fringes.

We regret their decision, but it is vital we continue to lead and look forward to future elections – and get started on building our policies and party across the country.

We have a responsibility to our amazing European election candidates and 100,000 supporters and the near 600,000 people who voted for us – as well as a duty to the country – to continue this task. The British people need more than regrets about the state of our politics, they need solutions.

We are delighted that Anna Soubry has taken on the role as our new leader, and our hope is to quickly broaden out our nationwide leadership to include some of our key supporters and activists from across the country. Change UK doesn’t just belong to MPs. It belongs to the country and those looking for a sense of hope and leadership to genuinely change our politics, not simply settle for the existing party status quo.

We hope that you agree this is a cause worth fighting for – and we will need your help and support going forward. While British politics slips into chaos around us, now is the time to stand firm in our beliefs and champion the mainstream centre ground values we articulated when we left our former parties in the first place.

Best wishes

Anna Soubry
Chris Leslie
Ann Coffey
Mike Gapes
Joan Ryan