Heidi Allen threatened to quit as Change UK leader over Lib Dem row

[Celerity]

MP says she wanted remainers to vote tactically for rivals in some areas but was overruled

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/22/change-uk-leader-heidi-allen-threatened-to-quit-over-lib-dem-row

The Change UK leader, Heidi Allen, has said she threatened to resign during an internal party row over whether to endorse voting tactically for the Liberal Democrats in the EU elections. In a Channel 4 News interview, Allen said she had wanted to advise remain supporters to vote for the Lib Dems outside of London and the south-east but she was overruled by other party members.

“Had it been left to me, I would have absolutely advised tactical voting,” said Allen, the MP for South Cambridgeshire. She said that while her colleague Sarah Wollaston agreed with her, others did not. “I respect the views of my fellow group members and the majority was that they didn’t want to go that way, but it is something that still troubles me. I have no doubt that the British public will look at the tactical voting websites out there and make their own decisions.”

Asked by the journalist Cathy Newman whether she had threatened to resign, she said: “Yes. I did.” Allen denied her party was in disarray and said the D’Hondt electoral system used in the EU elections was “inherently complex”.

“Necessarily putting all the votes in one direction doesn’t always necessarily create the result that you want. If the next party further down in the polls isn’t still big enough to win a seat, you can end up, if you’re not careful, giving more votes to the Brexit parties,” she said.

snip