Shire Tories go on strike over Brexit
Grassroots to boycott Euro elections in anger at delay
GRASSROOTS Tories are refusing to take part in next month’s European election campaign in protest at the delay to Brexit.
In an extraordinary show of defiance, the Conservative group on Derbyshire County Council has effectively voted to go on strike.
They have refused to knock on doors or deliver leaflets in support of Tory MEPs, saying they will not take part in the elections because they ‘ should not be happening’.
And they warned Theresa May they expect Conservative councillors across the country to join their Brexit revolt over the next few days.
Barry Lewis, leader of the Derbyshire Tories, told the Prime Minister she should quit over her agreement with the EU to delay Brexit until October 31.
He said there was a ‘democratic obligation to deliver what was promised’ and the Government ‘should not abdicate their promise to deliver it’.
Mr Lewis added local Tories were incensed with Mrs May for entering into Brexit negotiations with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour.
He said he expects other Tory county councillors to go on strike once the local elections on May 2 are out of the way.
Last night councillors across the country told the Daily Mail they will not be campaigning for the European elections – a sign of the growing anger in local associations at Mrs May’s handling of Brexit. The open rebellion could also make it more likely that Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party will sweep to victory in the European elections on May 23.
A poll this week found its support hit 27 per cent – well ahead of both Labour and the Tories, who were stuck on 15 per cent.
Mr Lewis said his Conservative group on Derbyshire County Council overwhelmingly supported a motion this week not to take part in the EU elections.
‘This was not an easy decision to take and goes against every natural instinct we have as Conservatives to support our hardworking MEPs and candidates,’ he said.
‘However, we were promised, following the largest public mandate a UK government has ever received, that we would be out by March 29. Whether you voted Leave or Remain, the vast majority of people recognise there is a democratic obligation to deliver what was promised.’
He added that inviting Mr Corbyn to the table was ‘a serious mistake for the Prime Minister’, adding that he and his Labour Party ‘deserve no credibility’.
Mr Lewis, the leader of Derbyshire County Council, said Mrs May should quit over her failure to deliver Brexit on time. And he said Tory and Labour voters will shift to vote for the Brexit Party. ‘Theresa May has said I think 108 times that we would leave the EU in March and if it came to it we would leave without a deal if one cannot be agreed,’ he said. ‘That is why we have made this decision.’
Derbyshire’s rebellion comes as grassroots Tories across the country are plotting no confidence votes in Theresa May.
Constituency activists want to press her to stand down by forcing an extraordinary general meeting to allow a vote of party members on her leadership.
Last night John Furey, a Tory councillor on Surrey Council, said he would also not campaign in the European elections. ‘I won’t be going out because I believe we should no longer be in the European Union,’ he said. And Dave Greenow, a Tory councillor on Herefordshire Council, said he would ‘definitely not be canvassing’, while Keith Walker, a Tory member of Nottinghamshire County Council, added: ‘If it was up to me we wouldn’t have anything to do with the European elections. We should have sorted it out before it comes to that.’
Yesterday it emerged three quarters of Labour’s top MEP candidates have publicly backed a second referendum. The candidates – who are ranked highly enough to have won a seat at the last European elections in 2014 – include Momentum’s national coordinator Laura Parker and former Cabinet minister Lord Adonis.
‘Should not be happening’