New pro-EU campaign group Vote for a Final Say is set to target 25 seats across the country in the remaining two weeks of the general election campaign, including 17 Labour-held constituencies.
The new organisation, staffed by former members of the People’s Vote campaign recently engulfed in open civil war, has announced that it will be focussing on the key marginals to stop Boris Johnson securing a majority for his Brexit deal.
The candidates being backed by Vote for a Final Say are all pro-Remain but represent three different political parties with varying Brexit positions – Labour, the SNP and the Liberal Democrats.
Of the 25 candidates that the group will support, seven are Lib Dems and one is SNP. In three of these seats – Finchley and Golders Green, Cambridgeshire South, and Wimbledon – Labour came second in the 2017 election while the Lib Dem candidate came third.
All three Labour candidates in the constituencies where Vote for a Final Say is backing a different candidate have signed the Remain Labour pledge. In 2017, Labour missed out in Finchley and Golders Green by just 1,657 votes and in Wimbledon by 5,622 votes. The Lib Dem candidate received 6.6% and 14.5% of the vote in each seat respectively.
The constituencies have been selected based on analysis of polling data and election results, according to the campaign group, including an unpublished MRP analysis of tens of thousands of people “commissioned by strategists preparing for a new referendum”.
James McGregory, the former director of the People’s Vote campaign, commented: “Time is running out to stop Boris Johnson getting a landslide. There have been too many arguments about who has the best tactical voting website or polling data and not enough action.
“We can all agree that these 25 seats are critical if we’re to prevent ‘Brextremist’ Tories securing total power. Now is the time for everyone to roll their sleeves up and start fighting back.”
Vote for a Future Say will work with young activists from For our Future’s Sake (FFS), a youth and student group campaigning for a fresh referendum on any form of Brexit, to target the selected areas.
Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson, co-founder of FFS, commented: “More than a million young people have registered to vote in this generation-defining election over the last few days. Now we must make sure people use those votes – and use them wisely.”
Below is the full list of 25 Vote for a Final Say target seats.
Birmingham Northfield, Richard Burden (Lab)
Bristol North West, Darren Jones (Lab)
Bury North, James Frith (Lab)
Cambridgeshire South, Ian Sollom (LD)
Canterbury, Rosie Duffield (Lab)
Cardiff North, Anna McMorrin (Lab)
Cheadle, Tom Morrison (LD)
Cheltenham, Max Wilkinson (LD)
Croydon Central, Sarah Jones (Lab)
Eltham, Clive Efford (Lab)
Enfield Southgate, Bambos Charalambous (Lab)
Finchley & Golders Green, Luciana Berger (LD)
Gower, Tonia Antoniazzi (Lab)
Ochil & South Perthshire, John Nicolson (SNP)
Portsmouth South, Stephen Morgan (Lab)
Reading East, Matt Rodda (Lab)
Sedgefield, Phil Wilson (Lab)
St Albans, Daisy Cooper (LD)
Wakefield, Mary Creagh (Lab)
Warrington South, Faisal Rashid (Lab)
Warwick & Leamington, Matt Western (Lab)
Weaver Vale, Mike Amesbury (Lab)
Wimbledon, Paul Kohler (LD)
Winchester, Paula Ferguson (LD)
Wirral West, Margaret Greenwood (Lab)
More from LabourList
‘History and poll leads suggest Labour can be bolder, even if it costs some votes’
Labour warned ‘ethical foreign policy’ inevitably sparks charge of ‘hypocrisy’
Sarwar: ‘Humza Yousaf’s leadership is in tailspin. The time for change has come’