Parties reject call for

Following Theresa May’s shock call for a snap general election this week, we have been speaking to the runners and riders in a battle for voters which has already taken its fair share of twists and turns....

The Lib Dems say they are the only party capable of defeating Canterbury MP Sir Julian Brazier after a proposal to stand a unity “Progressive Alliance” candidate against the Conservative foundered this week.

Just a day after Canterbury’s Green Party suggested a single centre-left candidate is necessary to break Sir Julian’s 30-year stranglehold on the constituency, Labour and the Lib Dems backed away from the idea.

Yesterday ( Wednesday), Labour said it was not interested in forming an alliance while the Lib Dems insisted their party name would appear on ballot papers.

On Tuesday the Greens issued a call for a “progressive” unity candidate to take on Mr Brazier, after Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to hold a snap election on June 8.

James Flanagan, the Lib Dems’ defeated candidate at the 2015 election, is making a return.

He told this paper: “I’m going to stand as a Lib Dem. That will be the name of the party on the ballot paper. If Labour and Green supporters want to get behind me to defeat Sir Julian, then that’s great.

“The fact is I have got the best chance of defeating him – especially as he supports the UK leaving the EU, while 53% of the constituency voted to remain.

“Our party has made it very clear that we will fight the hard Brexit being pushed by the Conservative government.”

Mr Flanagan, a former Canterbury city councillor, was a distant fourth two years ago behind Labour and Ukip.

Labour, meanwhile, said “we do not form alliances with other parties”. Its most likely candidate is union heavyweight Hugh Lanning, who lost by almost 10,000 to votes to Sir Julian in 2015.

Green Party spokesman Henry Stanton was disappointed by the reluctance to support a unity candidate.

He added that if Labour and the Lib Dems backed the idea, the Greens would withdraw and allow them to choose the candidate.

“We have heard from people on the doorstep who are from both those parties and they talked about their support for a Progressive Alliance candidate,” Mr Stanton said.

“People have been saying how frustrated they are that they are not represented by a candidate who shares their views.