General election: Liberal Democrats add ‘stop Brexit’ to ballot paper to appeal to Remain voters

Designation registered with electoral watchdog by Jo Swinson’s party

Jo Swinson speaks outside the Senedd, also known as the National Assembly building, in Cardiff (PA)

Liberal Democrat candidates will be able to appeal to Remain-backing voters by putting “stop Brexit” on the ballot paper for the 12 December general election.

The Electoral Commission allowed party officials to register the phrase “Liberal Democrats – to stop Brexit” on the voting slip.

And Jo Swinson‘s party said the move will help candidates in constituencies across the country to attract voters who agree with their policy of revoking Article 50 to stop Brexit.

The party’s candidate for South Cambridgeshire, Ian Sollom, said he intends to use the description as he seeks to overturn the 24.6 per cent majority recorded for Tories in 2017 by Heidi Allen, who later defected to the Lib Dems but is not standing in this election.

South Cambridgeshire is one of the Remain-backing constituencies where Lib Dems say that internal polling suggests a “seismic” shift in their favour, allowing them to leapfrog Labour to become the Tories’ main challengers.

Speaking to The Independent, Mr Sollom said: “The Liberal Democrats are the biggest, strongest party of Remain. Every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to stop Brexit and build a brighter future.

“We can’t make it any clearer than putting it on the ballot paper, and that is literally what we have done.

How the designation on the ballot paper could look (Liberal Democrats)

“South Cambridgeshire, like so many communities across the country, deserves the chance to reject the Brexit chaos on offer from Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson.

“That’s why it is so important Jo Swinson has the opportunity to articulate the case for Remain in the leaders’ debates. To deny that is an affront to democracy.”