Change UK - The Independent Group announce EU election candidates

Change UK – The Independent Group which consists of former Labour and Conservative party members announced their list of candidates for the forthcoming EU parliament election. Amongst those selected was Rachel Johnson, sister of hard Brexiteer Boris Johnson MP and Gavin Esler, former BBC news reporter who stated Brexit was based on “cheating and lies” and further said he was fed up of the likes of Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees Mogg “peddling snake oil”.

The full list of Change UK – The Independent Group candidates are as follows:

North West

1. Andrea Cooper

2. Daniel Price

3. Arun Banerji

4. Michael Taylor

5. Philippa Taylor

6. Victoria Desmond

7. Andrew Graystone

8. Elisabeth Knight

North east

1. Frances Weetman

2. Penny Hawley

3. Kathryn Heywood

London

1. Gavin Esler

2. Jan Vincent Rostowski

3. Carole Tongue

4. Annabel Mullin

5. Karen Newman

6. Ali Sadjady Naiery

7. Nora Mulready

8. Jessica Simor

East of England

1. Emma Taylor

2. Neil Carmichael

3. Bhavna Joshi

4. Michelle De Vries

5. Amanda Gummer

6. Thomas Graham

7. Roger Casale

East Midlands

1. Kate Godfrey

2. Joan Laplana

3. Narinder Sharma

4. Pankajhumar Gulab

5. Emma Jane Manley

South East

1. Richard Ashworth

2. Victoria Groulef

3. Warren Morgan

4. Eleanor Fuller

5. Robin Bextor

6. Nicholas Mazzei

7. Suzanna Carp

8. Phil Murphy

9. Heather Allen

10. Diane Yeo

West Midlands

1. Stephen Dorrell

2. Charlotte Gath

3. Peter Wilding

4. Amrik Kandola

5. Joanna Mckenna

6. Victor Odusanya

7. Lucinda Empson

Yorkshire and Humber

1. Diana Wallis

2. Juliet Lodge

3. Sophia Bow

4. Joshua Malkin

5. Ros McMullen

6. Steve Wilson

Wales

1. Jon Owen Jones

2. June Davies

3. Matthew Paul

4. Sally Stephenson

Scotland

1. Joseph Russo

2. David Macdonald

3. Kate Forman

4. Peter Griffiths

5. Heather Astbury

6. Catherine Edgeworth

Scottish Liberal Democrats announce EU Parliament candidates

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have announced their list of MEP candidates for the forthcoming European Parliament election.

1. Sheila Ritchie - A solicitor and former leader of Gordon District Council and Convener of the Scottish Liberal Democrats tops the list. A life long supporter of the European Union, Sheila spent two decades supporting small businesses in the Aberdeen area through her work with the Elevator scheme, Enterprise Trust and Business Gateway.

2. Fred Mackintosh - Edinburgh based human rights lawyer and advocate and a former councillor at Edinburgh City Council is also standing.

3. Catriona Bhatia - Former Deputy Leader of Scottish Borders Council and daughter of Liberal Democrat peer, Lord Steel, Catriona Bhatia will be standing as a candidate in the forthcoming election.

4. Vita Zaporocenzko - Case worker for Alex Cole Hamilton

5. John Edward - Director of Scottish Council of Independent Schools and previously the head of office for the EU Parliament in Edinburgh and chief campaign spokesperson for Scotland Stronger in Europe.

6. Clive Sneddon - Former Leader of North East Fife District Council and local government representative in Europe, Clive previously stood as a Lib Dem candidate in 2017 for the Westminster constituency of Angus.

Scottish Conservative Party announce MEP candidates

The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party has announced its list of EU candidates who will take part in the forthcoming EU parliament election:

1. Nosheena Mobarik – the current incumbent, she is also a life peer and former Whip in the House of Lords.

2. Iain McGill – a businessman contesting his 13th election, McGill was on the Scottish Euro list in 2014. He has told the Edinburgh Evening News that he hopes that the MEP role will be abolished by the UK leaving the EU “very swiftly”.

3. Cllr Shona Haslam – a former charity manager, Cllr Haslam took on the role of leader of Scottish Borders Council as soon as she was elected for the first time in 2017

4. Cllr Iain Whyte – the leader of the Conservative group on Edinburgh City Council, Cllr Whyte also sits on the board of Police Scotland

5. Andrea Gee – a former staffer to Nosheena Mobarik, Gee now works for Paul Masterton, Conservative MP for East Renfrewshire.

6. Michael Kusznir – a solicitor in Aberdeen, Kusznir has also researched and campaigned against human trafficking in the city.

Scottish Labour announce EU election candidates

The Scottish Labour Party has announced its list of candidates who will take part in the forthcoming EU Parliament election.

Top of the list is David Martin who has been an MEP since 1984 followed by Jayne Baxter who was a member of the Scottish Parliament from 2012 to 2016 representing the Mid Scotland and Fife region and Craig Miller who currently works for Richard Leonard, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party and was number five on the Mid Scotland and Fife regional list during the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.

The other three candidates are : Amy Lee Fraioli, Calum O’ Dwyer and Angela Bretherton.

Theresa May: Stuck between a rock and a hard place

In what promises to be another rollercoaster and unpredictable week for politics, one thing remains certain is that Theresa May’s time in office is diminishing by the second and the Labour Party has emerged as the facilitators of Brexit.

In these unprecedented, never seen before times, were government ministers argue for one thing and vote for another or were the leader of the opposition wilfully ignores a policy decided by Labour Party members, its not just the constitutional question that has parliament in deadlock, but the responses from the two main parties.

This week will see Theresa May attempt to muster support from Conservative Party colleagues to back her deal, which also entails the possibility of more money going to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to secure their support, but as the Beatles once said “ money can’t buy you love” and if there is one thing the DUP loves more than money is Northern Ireland’s close affinity to the UK.

This is likely to be a tough week for Theresa May as she attempts to secure enough buy in to get her Brexit deal passed by parliament this time, but at what cost.  There is mounting speculation that in return for her Brexit plan receiving support she would have to agree to step down as Prime Minister and make way for someone else to take over but is this one of the many rumours floating around the Westminster bubble or is there something in it.

Theresa May is stuck between a rock and a hard place and it could be that she will succumb to pressure from the Brexiteers in her party in order to get her Brexit deal through parliament which would see a new leader elected by the summer.

This would result in a push from opposition parties to hold a General Election, whatever way you look at it, the likelihood of a General Election seems more credible as parliament remains in deadlock over Brexit or if May steps down.

The Independent Group: What does it mean for UK politics ?

After weeks and months of speculation, Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie, Luciana Berger, Mike Gapes, Angela Smith, Ann Coffey, Gavin Shuker, Joan Ryan and Ian Austen all resigned from the Labour Party citing a culture of bullying, intimidation and a lack lustre effort over the party’s stance on Brexit.

Similarly, pro-European Union Conservatives, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston, resigned the whip from the Conservative Party with Anna Soubry stating that the “hard right, anti-EU awkward squad that have destroyed every Conservative leader for the last forty years are now running the Conservative Party from top to toe, with too many former colleagues fearing their local Conservative Association more than the electorate- the people they’ve been voted to represent.”

In an upbeat tone, Heidi Allen said “I feel excited, so excited in a way that I haven’t since I was first elected and a sense of liberation. I believe the United Kingdom deserves better, we might fail, but isn’t the prize worth fighting for and I sense the country wants us to fight for it too, and I for one are prepared to give it everything.”

Last week’s split has resulted in many political pundits and commentators making comparisons between the current split and the split that resulted in the formation of the Social Democrat Party in 1981.

So, what does this mean for UK politics? Although they say a week is a long time in politics, it’s too early to predict what is likely to happen, but the main difference between last week’s split and the split in 1981 is that it affects both the Conservative and Labour Party.

Like the SDP, The Independent Group has spoken about politics being broken and the dominance of the two main party structures coming to an end and politics as we know it no longer fit for purpose. Critics of the Independent Group have said like UKIP the new group is a one-party issue, and once that issue is resolved, the independent Group will be irrelevant.  

However, that may not be the case and both Chuka Umunna and Heidi Allen have spoken about the bigger picture and the need to offer the electorate something more and better. Arguably, this is in line with the mood of the country and the electorate, who for some time have felt politically homeless and disillusioned with UK politics.

There is no denying that the political narrative in the UK has been overshadowed by Brexit and the ongoing constitutional crisis the country finds its self in, with important domestic issues being cast aside, but if the Independent Group is to have any longevity it will need to adopt policies that not only resonate with the British public, but also offer hope and incentivise people to vote for a new party and split with traditional ties.