Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller is in the works of a tactical voting initiative to support election candidates in opposition of a hard Brexit. 'Best For Britain' will formally launch next week and aims to endorse a slate of candidates who back its preference for a “meaningful” vote by MPs at the end of the EU negotiation period. “We want to build the biggest tactical voting effort in UK history to ensure that candidates across the country that promise to do what's best for Britain in the Brexit process get the extra support they need to win,” Miller said.
An investor manager whose recent legal challenge prompted the government to seek parliamentary approval to invoke Article 50, Miller states the campaign is apolitical in that it could in theory support moderate Tories facing opposition from Pro-Brexit Labour MPs. “If the deal the next government negotiates doesn't match up to our current terms, MPs should do what's best for Britain and reject it. We will be asking MPs to pledge to keep an open mind and not be bullied into giving the next government a blank cheque for the final deal.”
While Prime Minister Theresay May said she was calling the election because “there should be unity here in Westminster” on the issue of Brexit and that the election would prove there could be “no turning back”, a stance some supporters in the media have described as “crushing saboteurs”. However, campaigners including Miller argue that the referendum did not give the government a mandate to pursue Brexit at all costs and that it is undemocratic to ask voters to give the government an unfettered mandate before the terms of any negotiated deal are known.
“There isn't time to organise a formal progressive alliance. We have to do what we can in the time available. We need to re-energise people about the importance of voting tactically,” Miller said. Her group has already held informal talks with political parties about their Brexit policies, but stresses its endorsements will be targeted by individual candidates.
