Remainers: do you think a 'Remain Alliance' is a good idea?

Poll

Remain Alliance: good or bad?

The possibility of a 'Remain Alliance' has once again been raised, this time in the context of the upcoming by-election in Brecon and Radnorshire.

This is likely to be contested closely between the Conservatives (who hold the seat) and the Lib Dems (who held the seat up to 2015), plus possibly the Brexit Party.

Plaid Cymru have never come anywhere near close to winning in Brecon and Radnorshire, and this is unlikely to change in the near future. Now their leader, Adam Price, is suggesting that they might not stand, to give the Lib Dems a clearer run.

Change UK are also said to be in discussions about a single pro-Remain candidate.

If you support one of these parties, or otherwise support remaining in the EU, what do you think about the idea of a 'Remain Alliance'? Would you be happy to support any Remain party if they formed an alliance, or are other issues more important? Do you think that it makes a difference that Plaid and the SNP want to break up the UK, whereas the Lib Dems and Change UK don't?

Vote in the poll and have your say below!

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Reply 1

BlueIndigoViolet

Change UK is like bringing a cooked steak back to life, tried and failed to replicate Macron's En Marche.

Wary of the SNP, and less so but still, PC - preserving the Union is incredibly important - so would need to have assurances in an ideal world - however a no deal Brexit would be far worse to the integrity of the UK especially with NI - so think an alliance is needed....

Labour needs to support something even a 2nd referendum if it wants any hope of some success under the resident commie Corbyn....

Reply 2

StriderHort

Original post by BlueIndigoViolet

preserving the Union is incredibly important

Dissolving the union is incredibly important :tongue:

Reply 3

Saracen's Fez

Original post by StriderHort

Dissolving the union is incredibly important :tongue:

So if you lived in Brecon and Radnorshire, would you be content to see Plaid stand aside in favour of Jane Dodds for the Lib Dems?

Reply 4

username612415

It's a good sign of party before country. Every non-brexiteer MP is another vote in parliament against whatever disastrous Brexit scenario we are faced with under Johnson, allowing the strongest Remain party to run without being diluted is the best chance of that happening.

Reply 5

StriderHort

Original post by Saracen's Fez

So if you lived in Brecon and Radnorshire, would you be content to see Plaid stand aside in favour of Jane Dodds for the Lib Dems?

Without any real strong feelings, yeah 'content' covers it well.

Reply 6

username402722

There should be some agreement between Remain parties to allow some candidates a freer run, perhaps at a GE about 20 seats where only the Remain party with the best chance of winning stands. There are some seats where the Greens came second, a large number of Lib Dem seats in the west country, and some seats in Wales.

Reply 7

ThatJosh

In general, yes, a Remain alliance is a good idea. They should've run under the same banner in the EU elections. In the case of this by-election, the other parties should stand aside and allow the Lib Dems to reclaim the seat from the Tories.

Reply 8

Andrew97

Entertainment Forum Helper, Debate & Current Affairs Helper

Lol, Change UK still think they matter. How cute.

Reply 9

Rakas21

My question in this situation would be why the Lib Dem’s would return the favour being second in the polls.

Reply 10

Saracen's Fez

Original post by Rakas21

My question in this situation would be why the Lib Dem’s would return the favour being second in the polls.

Looking in an exclusively B&R context then the answer is that they won't. However there are plenty of seats in Wales where the Lib Dems don't stand a chance but Plaid are competitive (about half of the Valleys), so there's definitely room for some horse-trading if that is what the parties want to do.

Reply 11

centraltrains

No.

Drives me mad when parties have agreements not to stand in areas to "let another one win" (or be more likely to).
Lib Dems do that in my area for the Council election for Greens and it drives me mad as it means I can't vote who I want to and I end up spoiling my ballot instead as I dislike the Greens.

People should have the freedom of choosing who they actually would want to vote in.

Reply 12

Burton Bridge

Ever thought people might vote for a party for a different reason to their Brexit stance!

Reply 13

Saracen's Fez

Original post by Burton Bridge

Ever thought people might vote for a party for a different reason to their Brexit stance!

Well, quite. That's what the question was about.

For Plaid in particular this would be a big step, because their raison d'être isn't stopping Brexit, it's independence for Wales – and the Lib Dems don't support that.

Reply 14

Burton Bridge

Original post by Saracen's Fez

Exactly, its starting to draw me a little how we are getting Brexit obsessed anything and everything is as indication of if an individual is leave or remain supportive.

Brexit needs putting to bed and the country needs to move on

Reply 15

username4406682

My thoughts (as a Brexiteer) are that it would result in a BP-Tory (under Boris) alliance and (assuming the Continuity Remain candidate is a Lib Dem) the watermelon vote bleeding away to Labour. Bear in mind this is IF the Welsh Nats play ball. Result - BP win and another hard Brexiteer in the HoC.

Reply 16

Rakas21

Original post by LiberOfLondon

The Tories having a formal ballot alliance under any leader is unlikely (and potentially monumentally stupid in the long term), the alliance under either new leader is more likely to be one in which the parties stand aside in a few dozen constituencies.

This wont be the case in Brecon where there is too little time.