Starmer’s 'secret pact' revealed as leaders accused of cooking up deal to hammer Tories
With just days to go before the election, opinion polls have Labour comfortably in the lead.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Lib Dem opposite number Sir Ed Davey have been accused of being in cahoots after data suggested the two parties are steering clear of one another’s target seats.
Sir Keir has visited just two of the 100 constituencies with the smallest swing required for a Lib Dem victory, according to a Daily Telegraph analysis.
Similarly, Sir Ed has been to just one of 100 seats required the smallest swing for a Labour win, with the Tories hailing it as evidence of a “pact” between the parties.
Andrew Lewer, the Tory candidate for Northampton South, said: “If Starmer and Davey are teaming up and believe that a vote for one is as good as a vote for the other, then they should come right out and say so.”
Theoretically, Labour and the Lib Dems could maximise Tory losses by pulling resources out of areas where the other is considered more likely to win in seats won by the Conservatives in 2019.
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According to such a scenario, Labour is focussing on seats in northern England, while the Lib Dems would concentrate on the so-called Blue Wall in the south and the Home Counties.
By doing so, Labour and the Lib Dems could potentially avoid splitting the anti-Tory vote, with dire implications for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s hopes of a return to Number 10 on July 4.
Neither Labour nor the Lib Dems accepts there is any sort of pact, with Sir Ed publicly rejecting the suggestion.
However, of the top 100 Lib Dem targets, Sir Keir has visited just two - Finchley and Golders Green, in north London, and York Outer, both won by the Conservatives five years ago. Sir Ed has visited just one of Labour’s top 100 targets – Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, in Scotland, won by the SNP in 2019.
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A separate Financial Times analysis suggests Labour is sending activists away from seats where the Lib Dems are the main Tory challengers.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “This pact just goes to show the Lib Dems are all too happy to go along with Labour’s retirement tax and £2,094 tax raid on working households.
“Labour isn’t opposing the Lib Dems because, no matter how many seats the Liberals win, Keir Starmer knows they won’t oppose Labour on anything.
"The only thing the more Lib Dem MPs would mean is Starmer being dragged even further to the Left.”
A Lib Dem spokesperson said there "are no pacts or deals" and accused the Tory party of "desperate accusations".
