Three Tory MPs have quit the party to join the new breakaway group claiming Theresa May’s “dismal failure” to stand up to hardline Brexiteers had pushed them out.
During dramatic scenes in the Commons yesterday, “the three amigos”, Sarah Wollaston, Heidi Allen and Anna Soubry, took up seats on the opposition benches alongside eight ex-Labour MPs.
The Independent Group, or TIG as it has become known in Westminster, now has more MPs than the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the same number of MPs as the Liberal Democrats − making them the joint fourth largest grouping in the Commons.
Their move reduced Mrs May’s already fragile majority to eight and raised fresh questions over her authority amid rumours there could be further Tory defections.
In a joint letter to the prime minister, the three MPs wrote: “We no longer feel we can remain in the party of a government whose policies and priorities are so firmly in the grip of the ERG (European Research Group) and DUP.
“Brexit has re-defined the Conservative party – undoing all the efforts to modernise it. There has been a dismal failure to stand up to the hardline ERG, which operates openly as a party within a party, with its own leader, whip and policy.”
Thereafter, at a Westminster press conference following the publication of the letter on social media, they made clear that their concerns about the Conservatives extended further than the handling of Brexit.
Ms Soubry said: “The right wing, the hardline anti-EU awkward squad that have destroyed every leader for the last 40 years are now running the Conservative Party from top to toe. They are the Conservative Party.”
Ms Allen, who is member of the commons work and pensions committee, said her decision went beyond Brexit and was a result of the government’s stance on welfare.
She said: “I can no longer represent a government and a party who can’t open their eyes to the suffering endured by the most vulnerable in society, suffering which we have deepened whilst having the power to fix.”
Dr Wollaston, who chairs the commons health committee, accused Mrs May of failing to deliver on the pledge to “tackle the burning injustices in our society”.
She added: “I think that what we now see is the party, that was once the most trusted on the economy and business, is now marching us to the cliff-edge of a no-deal Brexit.”
Mrs May, in a statement, said she was “saddened” by the move and added: “These are people who have given dedicated service to our party over many years, and I thank them for it.
“Of course, the UK’s membership of the EU has been a source of disagreement both in our party and our country for a long time. Ending that membership after four decades was never going to be easy.”
