A tactical voting plot to unseat Jeremy Hunt is underway as local Labour and Lib Dem supporters club together to oust the Chancellor on July 4.
A group of residents in Godalming and Ash are seeking to engineer a so-called “Portillo moment” by uniting behind the Lib Dems to unseat the senior Cabinet minister in the traditional Tory heartland.
The group, who have coined themselves “Godalming and Ash Elections”, have identified Paul Follows, the Lib Dem councillor for the area, as the candidate with the best chance of beating Mr Hunt.
But they insist the Chancellor can only be defeated if people vote tactically, which would involve those who normally back Labour or the Greens lending their support to Mr Follows to form an anti-Tory alliance.
To spread the word, the residents, who say they are not connected to any political party, have put posters up emblazoned with the words “I’m Labour” or “I’m Green”, “voting Lib Dem” to “stop the Tories”.
A spokesman for the group said: “Some of our supporters want to tell others that it’s OK to lend your vote to another party, which is why the signs were created. They are being put up every day across the constituency.”
Mr Follows, who used to be a Labour member, has also suggested that people who identify with other parties should briefly put their loyalties to one side and back him instead on July 4, sharing a message from a self-described “green socialist” who is “lending” him her vote on his Facebook page.
The move will fuel suspicions of backroom deals between Labour and the Lib Dems to oust the Conservatives. Both parties have denied making pacts, with Sir Ed Davey publicly rejecting the prospect of any election deals with Labour last year.
However, recent analysis by The Telegraph has found that both Sir Ed and Sir Keir Starmer are largely avoiding seats where the other appears to be in a strong position to beat the Tories.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “This pact proves that the Lib Dems will do nothing to stop Labour’s Retirement Tax and £2,094 tax raid on working households.
“Voting for the Lib Dems would only lead to Starmer being dragged even further to the Left.”
The tactical voting campaign in Godalming and Ash has been welcomed by the Lib Dems, who described the residents’ endorsement of Mr Follows as “fantastic news”.
Sharing the announcement on X, formerly Twitter, the party’s Waverley branch said: “The local community knows that the only party which can beat the tired Tories in #GodalmingandAsh is the @LibDems… Labour cannot win here!”
In theory, Labour and the Lib Dems could form a pact to maximise Conservative losses by pulling resources from areas where the other is considered more likely to topple a Tory incumbent.
For Labour, this would mean focusing on seats in the north of England that fell to the Conservatives in 2019, while the Lib Dems would stick to the Blue Wall, traditional Tory heartlands concentrated in the south of England and the Home Counties.
By diverting their efforts away from one another’s target seats, the parties could seek to avoid splitting the anti-Tory vote in some of the Conservatives’ most vulnerable constituencies, giving them a better shot at inflicting a historic defeat on the Government on July 4.
Godalming and Ash is a brand new seat for 2024, having been formed in the recent boundary review. It combines parts of South West Surrey, Mr Hunt’s old constituency, and neighbouring Guildford and Surrey Heath, as well as nearby Mole Valley, which are all Tory-held.
A major opinion poll for The Telegraph earlier this month suggested Mr Hunt was on course to lose the seat to the Lib Dems, having won his former constituency by a majority of more than 10,000 in 2019.
On their website, the local residents’ group say: “We can create change in Godalming and Ash. We can beat Jeremy Hunt. But only if we all vote tactically.
“If the vote for change is split across different candidates then Jeremy Hunt could get back in with a tiny share of the vote. We can’t allow that.
“Only Paul Follows, the Lib Dem candidate, can win in this new constituency…
“We’re calling on everyone who wants to see change to vote smart and to vote tactically, whether you’re usually a Green, Labour or Lib Dem voter, or even a disgruntled Conservative voter.”
A Lib Dem spokesman said: “It is clear across Surrey that it’s a two horse race between the Liberal Democrats and Conservative Party, with supporters of all parties and none voting Liberal Democrat to oust Conservative MPs, including Jeremy Hunt.
“Communities in Godalming and Ash have had enough of the Conservative Party and are voting Liberal Democrat to send a message.”
A Labour Party spokesman said: “We are working hard to deliver as many Labour MPs as possible in the general election and our campaigners are bringing our message of change to people across the country.”
Mr Hunt declined to comment.
Source Agencies
