Lib Dem and Labour pact could sink hopes of troubled Tories

THE Lib Dems and Labour will gain a 20-point boost on polling day if they work together against the Conservatives, Daily Telegraph analysis has found, amid suggestions of an electoral pact in two by-elections today.

Both parties have always denied that there is any formal agreement between them to defeat the Conservatives by running limited or non-existent campaigns in each others’ target seats.

But at the local elections last month, Labour gave the Lib Dems a clear run at 49 seats in the South West, where the party hopes to overturn Conservative majorities in a so-called collapse of the Blue Wall of Tory heartland seats. The

Lib Dems received an average vote share of 51 per cent in those seats, compared to a share of 29 per cent in seats in the same area where Labour did run.

A similar effect took place in seats where the Lib Dems stood back, with Labour receiving an average vote share of 46 per cent, compared with 26 per cent where all major parties ran.

The Conservatives fielded at least one candidate in every ward.

Labour and the Lib Dems are both standing candidates in today’s by-elections in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton, but have been accused of deliberately running weaker campaigns in the seat in which the other is stronger.

Wakefield has been held by the Conservatives since 2019 and is widely expected to fall back to Labour, following the resignation of Imran Ahmad Khan, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a teenager.

Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has not visited the constituency at all during the by-election campaign, despite visiting Tiverton and Honiton four times. A Liberal Democrat spokesman denied the claims, and that the party was going “soft” in Wakefield – pointing to a visit by Daisy Cooper, the party’s deputy leader, earlier this month.

“There is no pact and there will be no pact,” the spokesman said.“from Devon to Yorkshire, lifelong Conservative voters are telling us they’re sick of Boris Johnson’s lies and law-breaking.”

Tiverton and Honiton, which will also vote on a new MP today, could see its Tory majority of 24,000 votes overturned by the Lib Dems following the resignation of Neil Parish, who was caught watching pornography in the House of Commons chamber.

Ben Bradshaw, a Labour MP, has suggested that voters in the constituency may wish to consider voting for the Liberal Democrats, rather than his own party’s candidate, Liz Pole.

“What some Labour members and activists don’t always appreciate is that a lot of Conservative voters, if they want to give the Government a kicking, will vote Liberal Democrat but they wouldn’t vote Labour,” he said.

“So, if we have a joint purpose of wanting to send the Prime Minister a message and ultimately defeat this Government in a general election, then I think there are very good prospects of a Lib Dem victory there.”

Labour sources have always denied a pact with the Lib Dems, but suggested that it was normal for parties to expend more energy campaigning in seats they believed they could win.

The results in last month’s local elections suggest a pact could be beneficial for both parties at the next general election.

Recent polling by JL Partners gave Labour a 20-point lead in Wakefield, while in Tiverton and Honiton, the Lib Dems are thought to be neck-and-neck with the Tories, closing a previous twopoint gap.