Three more politicians join Labour rebels in newly formed Independent Group

Three Conservative politicians have resigned and joined the eight Labour rebels in the newly formed Independent Group.

British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves for Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament. Picture: Getty

British Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a body blow last night when three Conservative politicians resigned and dramatic­ally crossed the floor of parliament to join the eight Labour breakaway rebels in the newly formed Independent Group.

Mrs May will now find the numbers in parliament even more difficult to pull together to pass Brexit legislation, after Tory ­Remain­ers Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston resigne­d from the party.

The upheaval that rocked the Labour Party earlier in the week has now spread to the Tories, with divisive splits now making any form of consensus on Brexit even more difficult and upending trad­itional voting patterns.

The three said in a statement that the Conservative Party had abandoned attempts to modernise and broaden its appeal, claiming the party was less tolerant and driven by the demands of the pro-Brexit European Research Group and the Northern Irish party that provides confidence and supply, the Democratic Unionist Party.

The Labour MPs sitting together as a group in the Commons.

The Conservatives, with the DUP support, will now have 324 members in the parliament, reflecti­ng a majority of just two.

The ex-Tory trio said in their statement last night: “We no longer feel we can remain in the party of a government whose polic­ies and priorities are so firmly in the grip of the ERG and DUP.

“Brexit has redefined the Conserv­ative Party — undoing all the efforts to modernise it. There has been a dismal failure to stand up to the hardline ERG, which operat­es openly as a party within a party, with its own leader, whip and policy.’’

Ms Soubry, who has been consistentl­y arguing for a second referendum on Brexit, said: “The country deserves better. We believe there is a failure of politics in general, not just in the Conserv­ative Party but in both main parties as they move to the fringes.”

Ms Soubry has previously ­spoken about how the “Purple momen­tum’’ — a hard Brexit group including former UKIP members — had begun to infiltrate the party at grassroots level, similar to the momentum activists who had promoted a hard Left line in the Labour Party.

In her resignation letter she said: “This shift to the Right has been exacerbated by blatant entry­ism. Not only has this been tolerated, it has been actively welcome­d in some quarters. A purple­ momentum is subsuming the Conservative Party, as much as the hard Left has been allowed to consume and terminally undermine the Labour Party.’’

Mrs May said she was saddened by the decision, noting that the three had given dedicated service to the party over many years.

She noted Britain’s membership of the EU had been “a source of disagreement both in our party and our country for a long time”, but would not stop her delivering on the referendum result.

She hit back at the claims that the Conservative Party had hardened its political leanings, saying: “I am determined that under my leadership the Conservative Party will always offer the decent, moderate and patriotic politics that the people of this country deserve.”

Dr Wollaston, Ms Soubry and Ms Allen said despite their resignation they would vote with the government on occasions on measures including security, strengthening the economy and improving public services. They then added: “But we feel honour-bound to put our constituents and country’s interests first.”

They have made their position on Brexit clear over the past few months and repeated that they reject the “false binary choice of a bad deal and a no-deal Brexit’’ and said they were “unprepared to wait until our toes are at the edge of a cliff”.

Former education minister Nicky Morgan said: “Very sorry to read this from my principled and fearless friend Anna Soubry. Any political party should be a broad church and we should regret losing­ three such talented women from the Conservative Party.’’

As the three took their new parliame­ntary seats with their new colleagues on the other side of the chamber, they were backslapped by both Independent Group MPs and some Labour politicians.

Tory grandee Ken Clarke warned that perhaps six other Conservative MPs were still consid­ering leaving the party. “Certainly some members of parliament are getting very fed up,” he said. “There are some, I think — not including me — who probably are contemplating leaving if the party moves too far to the Right and no longer represents what they regard­ as the mainstream Conserv­ative views they have held for all the previous years.’’