Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and Greens agree electoral pact

The Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party have finalised a plan to step aside for each other in 60 seats across England and Wales in the General Election.

Covering 49 seats in England and 11 in Wales, the agreement was made under the banner of a cross-party group called Unite to Remain, which has spent several months trying to broker the plan. Outside of Wales, the pact will simply be a two-way agreement between the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.

With exactly five weeks until the election, the alliance intends to give a free run to one pro-remain party in each constituency, as shown when the Green Party and Plaid Cymru stood aside in the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election in August, where Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds overturned an 8,038 majority to beat incumbent Conservative Chris Davies by 1,425 votes.

The leaders of the three parties have labelled the agreement as a ‘significant moment for all people who want to support Remain candidates across the country’.

Naomi Smith, Best for Britain chief executive, said: “We applaud the work of Unite to Remain in helping to fight tribalism and secure the kind of cross-party working needed to stop Brexit. Best for Britain has been calling for pro-EU parties to work together for a long time. Our petition topped 100,000 signatures and we brought MPs of all stripes together in a cross-party delegation which travelled to Brussels last month.

“While we won’t necessarily be backing all of Unite to Remain's candidates at the moment, we will review our next round of polling and take an informed decision on who we think is the best placed candidate to prevent a Tory victory in each seat. Through these agreements and Best for Britain’s tactical voting tool, the Remain movement is more organised than ever and ready to fight this election.”