Tories pick candidates who want second poll

TWO MEPs campaigning for a second referendum have been re- selected as candidates for the Conservative Party.

Sajjad Karim, a former Liberal Democrat who has described Brexit as ‘madness’, will be top of the party’s candidates list in the North West of England. While Charles Tannock, who co-founded the Conservatives for a People’s Vote campaign, will be on the ballot paper in London.

The pair have been re- selected by the party ahead of next month’s European Parliament elections despite their calls for Brexit to be cancelled. It comes as senior party figures worry the Tories are heading for a crushing defeat on May 23, and could lose more than half their current tally of 18 MEPs as many party members are unwilling to go out and canvass in elections they never wanted to take place.

Theresa May has said she is determined to get a Brexit deal through Parliament before the elections so that voting can be cancelled, but this is looking increasingly unlikely. A heavy defeat would likely precipitate calls for Mrs May to quit.

Both Dr Karim and Mr Tannock are part of the Conservatives for a People’s Vote campaign, which is calling for a second referendum. Dr Karim, who has been an MEP since 2004, said last December: ‘The only way to stop this madness in its tracks is a Parliamentary process leading to a People’s Vote. We want to be leading in our continent ideally through the European Union and projecting ourselves to the globe and winning, not falling down with a whimper.’ He defected from the Liberal Democrats in 2007 saying his old party had ‘lost their way’.

Mr Tannock, who has represented the London region since 1999, will keep his slot as the party’s second candidate on its list in the capital. In October last year, Mr Tannock said he was hoping that Mrs May’s Brexit deal would be voted down. He said: ‘The more MPs that vote against the deal, the better. I want the deal rejected because it might result in us remaining in the European Union via a People’s Vote.’

Meanwhile, Labour has selected arch-Remain campaigner Lord Adonis to stand as a candidate in the South West. The former minister will suspend his membership of the Lords if he wins.

Earlier this week, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned that Mrs May could struggle to hang on to power if she cannot get her Brexit deal through Parliament before the elections.

He acknowledged that the Tories could be heading for a ‘disastrous’ showing at the polls if the country was required to vote.