‘Don’t let Boris Johnson steal your future’ - Why Londoners should consider backing Lib Dems in knife-edge seats

Liberal Democrat Leader Jo Swinson canvassing door to door with activists during a visit to Sheffield, while on the General Election campaign trail. PA Photo. Picture date: Sunday December 8, 2019. See PA story POLITICS Election. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire - Credit: PA

SIOBHAN BENITA, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for London and the party’s candidate for mayor, encourages people to back the Lib Dems in the capital.

Siobhan Benita, the Lib Dems’ spokesperson for London. Photograph: Lib Dems. – Credit: Archant

It’s crunch time. After more than three years of persuading, petitioning and protesting, of parliamentary proceedings, prorogations and prosecutions, we’ve reached the moment of truth. Your future, my future, everyone’s future is at stake. We have so little time left to stop Brexit – but you can.

The thought of waking up on Friday to a majority Conservative government is horrifying to me. Even before we sit down to Christmas lunch, a jubilant Boris Johnson could have set us all on his reckless path to leaving the EU. But even if we do exit next month, don’t be fooled. Brexit will not be done. Far from it. It will be the start of years of more uncertainty, more wrangling and more internal Tory Party feuding in pursuit of a fantasy deal. All the while urgent issues, like tackling the climate emergency, improving public services and lifting people out of poverty, will continue to be neglected. Project Fear will slowly but surely become our reality, crippling the economy and putting jobs, the NHS and the environment at serious risk.

Here in London, where I’ve been campaigning and where the Lib Dems are a surging force, you have the power to stop this calamity. You have the power to change the course of history, to deny Boris Johnson the majority he needs, wipe the smirk of Nigel Farage’s face and keep Donald Trump’s greedy hands off our NHS. You have the power to stop Brexit. By working with us.

The Liberal Democrats are the party best placed to beat the Tories in many knife-edge seats in and around the capital. Seats like Wimbledon, Finchley & Golders Green, Cities of London & Westminster, Kensington, Chelsea & Fulham, Richmond Park, Carshalton & Wallington, and Esher & Walton.

Tactical voting for Liberal Democrat candidates in these constituencies will mean fewer hard-Brexit Tory MPs in the next parliament. With your help, the LibDems can block their Tory rivals in these London constituencies. Remember, every single Conservative candidate in this election – regardless of how they voted in the past – has now signed up to Boris Johnson’s damaging deal as well as the possibility of us crashing out with no deal at all. And yes, tactical voting for Labour in some seats may also seem the right thing to do to deny Boris Johnson the majority he needs to push through his calamitous deal. Our best chance of securing a People’s Vote and stopping Brexit is a hung parliament and for that we need to elect as many Liberal Democrat MPs as possible.

Whether you’ve voted Lib Dem before or not, whether you’re a Tory voter or a Labour voter at heart, I’m asking you, urging you: please, where it makes absolute sense to do so, lend us your vote in three days’ time so that we can stop Brexit. Don’t let Boris Johnson wreck your Christmas. More than that, don’t let Boris Johnson steal your future.