Remain alliance targets Zac Goldsmith's knife-edge Richmond seat in general election

Greens will step aside for Lib Dems against Tory Zac Goldsmith
The Lib Dems are hoping to unseat Zac Goldsmith in Richmond
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The “remain alliance” today unveiled 60 seats including Richmond Park and Wimbledon where parties will step aside to boost the chances of anti-Brexit candidates.

Former Tory MP Heidi Allen revealed the list of seats across England and Wales where the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party have agreed to field just one candidate.

The Unite to Remain alliance is intended to give a free run to one pro-remain party in each constituency.

The deal could make all the difference in knife-edge seats such as Richmond Park where Tory Zac Goldsmith has a majority of just 45 votes over the Lib Dems. It means the Greens will not run in the seat which Sarah Olney is fighting for the Lib Dems. In 2015, the Greens took 3,548 votes.

Ms Olney said: “We can oust Tory Brexit-supporting MPs and prevent Boris Johnson winning a majority.”

In Wimbledon the Greens will step aside to help the Lib Dems’ Paul Kohler, while his party will not field a candidate in Dulwich and West Norwood to boost the Greens.

As part of the pact, the Lib Dems will stand in 43 constituencies, the Greens in 10 and Plaid Cymru will stand in seven.

Other constituencies on the list include Chelsea and Fulham where city “superwoman” Nicola Horlick is trying to unseat Tory Greg Hands for the Lib Dems. The party took just 4,627 votes at the last election but the Greens standing aside could help them take up to an extra 1,000 votes.

Finchley and Golders Green, where former Labour MP Luciana Berger is trying to overturn Tory Mike Freer’s 1,657 majority, is also on the list. The Lib Dems are hoping to take the seat despite coming a distant third in 2017.

The deal comes after the Lib Dems beat the Conservatives in the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election when Plaid Cymru and the Greens stood aside.

The deal was brokered by Ms Allen who co-founded Change UK before joining the Lib Dems. She said what they were trying achieve was “unprecedented in modern British political history” and added they were not targeting Labour remain MPs. “This is a Brexit election, and staying in the EU is possible — and this is the deciding moment.”

She announced last week she would not be standing in the general election on December 12 after suffering abuse.

Lib-Dem leader Jo Swinson said: “People are tired of the old two parties. They want a new way of doing politics.”

The leader of Plaid Cymru Adam Price said the most important thing about this election was to “return as many pro-remain MPs back in Parliament as possible”, while Sian Berry, co-leader of the Green Party, added: “The crash-out Brexit the Tories are pushing for would be a disaster.”

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