Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke has defected to join the Labour Party, with an attack on the “broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic government”.
Elphicke and Labour confirmed the move just minutes before Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer went head to head at the first Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) following the local elections defeat for the Tories.
The MP for Dover and Deal, in Kent, said: “When I was elected in 2019, the Conservative Party occupied the centre ground of British politics. The party was about building the future and making the most of the opportunities that lay ahead for our country.
“Since then, many things have changed. The elected Prime Minister was ousted in a coup led by the unelected Rishi Sunak.
“Under Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives have become a byword for incompetence and division. The centre ground has been abandoned and key pledges of the 2019 manifesto have been ditched.”
And Elphicke praised the “changed Labour Party”, saying that under Starmer it now “occupies the centre ground of British politics… has accepted Brexit and its economic policies and defence policies are responsible and can be trusted”.
She added: “Most significantly for me, the modern Labour Party looks to the future… building a Britain of hope, optimism, opportunity and fairness. A Britain everyone can be part of.”
Key factors for her decision, the MP said, were “housing and the safety and security of our borders”.
Sunak’s government, she said, was “failing to keep our borders safe and secure” or to “build the homes we need… renters and leaseholders have been betrayed as manifesto pledges to end no fault evictions and abolish ground rents have not been delivered as promised”.
And she added: “We need to move on from the broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic government.
“Britain needs a Government that will build a future of hope, optimism, opportunity and fairness.”