This general election will decide whether or not we get a People’s Vote and the opportunity to Stop Brexit. If Boris Johnson’s Conservatives win a majority of seats Brexit will happen, but if the Conservatives don’t win a majority a People’s Vote will be the only realistic way to end the Brexit impasse.
In this election we must campaign and vote tactically to deny the Conservatives a majority and to ensure that as many as possible pro-Remain and People’s Vote supporting MPs are elected.
In Cambridge Constituency the two front-running MPs, Daniel Zeichner for Labour and Rod Cantrill for the Liberal Democrats, as well as Green Party candidate Jeremy Caddick are strongly pro-EU and back a People’s Vote, so we will not make a tactical recommendation for Cambridge constituency.
In Cambridgeshire we have two marginal seats, South Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, which are exactly the type of seat where we must elect pro-People’s Vote MPs if we are to stop Boris Johnson. In addition to these, in South East Cambridgeshire there is the opportunity to replace Conservative Lucy Frazer with a pro-EU MP.
We strongly urge our supporters in Cambridge (who are not yet fully committed to a campaign there) to volunteer to campaign tactically in these three critical constituencies.
We encourage our supporters to back the following candidates, not just by voting for them but also by joining their campaigns on the ground and donating to their campaign funds:
- South Cambridgeshire – Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrats), volunteer and donate at https://www.iansollom.org/
- Peterborough – Lisa Forbes (Labour), volunteer and donate at https://lisaforpeterborough.org.uk/
- South East Cambridgeshire – Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrats), volunteer and donate at https://www.pippaheylings.com/
We are not making tactical voting recommendations for Huntingdon, North East Cambridgeshire or North West Cambridgeshire, as all available evidence indicates that these are safe Conservative seats, so we encourage you to vote for the People’s Vote supporting candidate of your choice.
We will be updating our recommendations for the 2019 General Election as new information comes in, so please check this page regularly for updates, join us to receive regular email updates and calls to action, and keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Update 28/11/2019: Data and modelling from a large national poll published by YouGov on 27/11/29 supports our recommendations, as to the tactical voting websites overall.
Why do we back these candidates?
In deciding which candidates to support we have taken several factors into consideration: the position of the candidate on a People’s Vote, the results of recent elections and opinion polls, and the intensity of their party’s campaign in the constituency.
South Cambridgeshire
Until very recently South Cambridgeshire was considered a Conservative safe seat, but it is clear in this constituency where 60% voted Remain in 2016 is now hotly contested between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. The evidence or this comes from the 2018 local elections, where the Liberal Democrats almost tripled the number of seats they held to take control of South Cambridgeshire District Council, the 2019 European Parliament Elections, where the Liberal Democrats topped the poll in South Cambridgeshire, and a poll conducted by the respected independent polling firm Survation on 4 and 5 November 2019 on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, which found that the Liberal Democrats are neck-in-neck with the Conservatives. The Green Party have decided to stand down their candidate in South Cambridgeshire as part of the Unite To Remain alliance, the People’s Vote have declared it a Top 100 Target seat, recommending tactical voting for the Liberal Democrats, and Best for Britain and Remain United also recommend voting for the Liberal Democrats in this constituency. The Liberal Democrats themselves are putting a lot of resources into their campaign in South Cambridgeshire, indicating that they believe that Ian Sollom can take the seat.
We therefore strongly recommend that our supporters back Ian Sollom in South Cambridgeshire in the 2019 General election.
Peterborough
In recent decades Peterborough Constituency has alternated between Labour and the Conservatives, and voted Leave (60.9%) in the 2016 EU referendum. In 2017 Lisa Forbes retained the seat for Labour on just 30.9%, due to the pro-Leave vote being split between the Brexit Party and Conservatives. In the 2019 General election the pro-Leave vote is likely to be less split, so Lisa Forbes will need to increase her vote substantially to defeat her pro-Brexit Conservative opponent. The other opposition parties in Peterborough do not have a realistic chance of winning the seat, and Best for Britain and Remain United recommend voting for Labour in this constituency. The People’s Vote campaign has declared Peterborough a Top 100 Target seat, and they have recommended tactical voting for Labour.
We strongly recommend that our supporters back Lisa Forbes in Peterborough in the 2019 General election.
South East Cambridgeshire
Similar to South Cambridgeshire, South East Cambridgeshire has been considered a Conservative safe seat, but in this constituency where 55% voted Remain in 2016 there is now an opportunity for Liberal Democrat Pippa Heylings to take the seat from Conservative Lucy Frazer. In the 2018 local elections the Liberal Democrats almost tripled the number of seats they held to take control of South Cambridgeshire District Council, and in East Cambridgeshire District Council elections in May 2019 they increased their seats from two to thirteen. In the 2019 European Parliament Elections the Liberal Democrats topped the poll in South Cambridgeshire and came second in East Cambridgeshire. A poll conducted by Survation on 25 to 28 October 2019 on behalf of the Liberal Democrats indicates that the Liberal Democrats are best placed to challenge the Conservatives in South East Cambridgeshire, though they will need a sizable boost from tactical voting to win. The Green Party have decided to stand down their candidate in South East Cambridgeshire as part of the Unite To Remain alliance, and the People’s Vote have declared it a Top 100 Target seat and recommend voting for the Pippa Heylings, and do Best for Britain and Remain United.
While the situation on South East Cambridgeshire is not quite as clear as in neighbouring South Cambridgeshire, the fact that the Liberal Democrats investing a lot of volunteers’ time and resources into their campaign in South East Cambridgeshire indicates that they believe that Pippa Heylings can take the seat.
We currently recommend that our supporters back Pippa Heylings in South East Cambridgeshire in the 2019 General election, but to keep an eye on how the campaign develops over the coming weeks.
