The Independent Group For Change Disbands After Election Wipeout

All 11 of the MPs who quit Labour or the Tories lost their seats last week.
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The political party founded by MPs who defected from Labour and the Conservatives will be disbanded after failing to hold any seats in the general election.

The two main parties were rocked earlier this year when a string of MPs quit en masse to form The Independent Group (later Change UK and The Independent Group for Change) over Brexit and anti-Semitism.

Most of them then quit Change UK to join the Lib Dems, some going independent along the way.

Last week, all 11 of the MPs who quit Labour or the Tories lost their seats.

Only former Labour MP Luciana Berger was on track to take Finchley and Golders Green for the Lib Dems from Conservative Mike Freer, but she too failed to get over the line.

The Independent Group for Change tweeted: “We came together & took a stand when others wouldn’t. It was right to shine a spotlight on Britain’s broken politics. But having taken stock and with no voice now in parliament, we begin the process of winding up our party. Thanks to all who stood with us.”

In a letter to its members, the party’s leader, ex-Tory Anna Soubry, said: “Whilst there is clearly a need for massive change in British politics, now that we no longer have voices within parliament, a longer term realignment will have to take place in a different way.

“Honesty and realism are at the core of our values, and we therefore must recognise that the political uncertainty of recent months has now given way to a settled pattern in parliament for the next five years. So this is the right time for us to take stock.”

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