Change UK split: Centrist party loses more than half its MPs as Anna Soubry elected leader

Six MPs leave new party amid divisions over future direction

Change UK has lost more than half of its MPs after the party split in two following a disappointing performance at the European parliament elections.

Six of its 11 MPs, including Heidi Allen, the interim leader, quit the centrist party just four months after its formation. The MPs will sit as independents in the House of Commons.

Ms Allen was joined by Chuka Umunna, Sarah Wollaston, Gavin Shuker, Angela Smith and Luciana Berger. In a joint statement the six said they would be “supporting each other as an independent grouping”.

The split leaves Anna ​Soubry, Chris Leslie, Joan Ryan, Mike Gapes and Ann Coffey as the only remaining Change UK MPs.

Ms Soubry, the former Conservative MP, has been elected as leader of the remaining group.

Speaking after a crisis meeting that confirmed the group would split, she said: “I’m deeply disappointed that at such a crucial time in British politics our former colleagues have made this decision. Now is not the time to walk away, but instead to roll up our sleeves and stand up for the sensible mainstream centre ground which is unrepresented in British politics today. 
 
Insisting that the Change UK MPs remained “as determined to fix Britain’s broken politics as we were when we left our former parties”, she added: “Challenging the established broken political parties was never going to be easy. We registered as a political party to stand in the European elections but it was never our sole purpose. It is vital we continue leading the fight against a damaging Brexit, pressing for a People’s Vote and being prepared to revoke Article 50 in the face of a no-deal Brexit.”

Ms Soubry said the MPs felt a responsibility to Change UK’s 100,000 registered supporters and the near 600,000 people who voted for the party in last month’s EU elections “to stand up for those who feel the established parties do not represent them and who want a different choice and to change our broken politics”.

Ms Allen said: “We believe that our priority right now must be to provide collegiate leadership to bring people together in the national interest. We know the landscape will continue to shift within the political environment and have concluded that by returning to sit as independents, we will be best placed to work cross party and respond flexibly.”

The departing MPs “wish our colleagues well as they continue to build Change UK”, she added.

Last month, Ms Allen said she was open to the idea of Change UK merging with the Liberal Democrats, but some of the party’s other MPs were understood to be opposed to such a move.

Her comments drew criticism from Ms Soubry, who said: “I think it is rather bizarre for an interim leader on the eve of polls to tell people essentially not to vote for their party.”

In a personal statement explaining his own decision to leave Change UK, Chuka Umunna, the former Labour shadow minister, hinted that he also wanted to co-operate more closely with the Liberal Democrats.

He said: “The Remain forces need to work even more closely together – we are already doing this in parliament but we must build on that. Most importantly, the centre ground at the next general election must decide how we work together, in whatever form, instead of competing against each other. We need to regroup and consolidate activity to maximise our impact – a key lesson of the European elections.”

He added: “I am clear that there is currently not one single force in the Remain movement or in the centre ground that can stop Brexit or break the two-party system on its own. The movement built around Change UK has an important role to play in this.

“However, whilst I believe it should carry on as an organisation, I do not believe Change UK should carry on in its current form. This has put me in a fundamentally different place not only to other Change UK parliamentary colleagues but also it’s activists and candidates who should be free to take the party in the direction they wish. Consequently, with a heavy heart, I have decided to leave the party and to return to sitting as an independent MP in the House of Commons for the time being.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said he would like the MPs to join his party but could also work with them in other ways. He told BBC News: “Most of the group are people who share the same values as we do. My door is open to talk with them, particularly the independent group, about their future. I don’t want to gloat over their failure. It was a failure. But we have got to move on and I want to be positive about it.”