Reform’s ranks have been bolstered through the arrival of four former Conservatives (Image: Guy Bell/Shutterstock)
Reform UK has no fear of the law being changed to require MPs defecting from another party to fight a by-election. Nigel Farageâs party, which has a strong lead over its rivals in the polls, is confident it would thrash rivals in the majority of contests.
A petition calling for defections to trigger by-elections has won nearly 130,000 signatures and will be debated in Parliament on Monday. Half of Reformâs eight-strong group of MPs are former Conservatives who switched allegiance â Robert Jenrick, Suella Braverman, Danny Kruger and Andrew Rosindell.
The petition states: âWhen an MP decides they want to defect to another party a by-election should be automatically triggered to allow the constituents the opportunity to have their democratic right to agree or not with their elected official.â
A Reform spokesperson said: âGiven that Reform has topped the last 230 opinion polls, with the latest data from More in Common putting us at 30%, any rule change would be irrelevant. Reform has all the momentum in British politics.
âIf by-elections were triggered whenever an MP changed party, we would expect to sweep the board in most of them. The elections on May 7 will only prove this.â
Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick have quit the Conservatives for Reform UKÂ (Image: Getty)
Before the last general election, three Conservatives crossed the floor to join Labour â Natalie Elphicke, Dan Poulter and Christian Wakeford.
There is no requirement for a defector to stand down and fight a by-election but this happened twice when Tories left to join Mr Farageâs former Ukip party. Former Tory Douglas Carswell was re-elected as the Ukip MP for Clacton â the present political home of Mr Farage â with a majority of 12,404 in October 2014; fellow ex-Conservative Mark Reckless was re-elected the next month as the Ukip MP for Rochester and Strood with a majority of 2,920.
Britainâs most famous defector is Winston Churchill. He left the Tories in May 1904 to join the Liberal party. He was then elected as a âConstitutionalistâ in the 1924 general election and became Chancellor in the Conservative Government.
The Government stated in response to the petition: âIt is an established constitutional principle that at UK general elections voters cast their vote for individual candidates, and not the political party they represent.
âWhen a Member of Parliament decides to change their party affiliation, it is for the MP to decide whether to continue to sit in the House of Commons (as a representative of their new political party or as an independent MP) or to stand down from their seat to trigger a by-election and, if they wish, seek re-election.
âThere are no plans to make changes to the current arrangements.â
The constituencies with the highest number of signature supporting the petitionâs call for mandatory by-elections were those which have seen Tory MPs switch to Reform â Mrs Bravermanâs Fareham and Waterlooville (937), Mr Jenrickâs Newark (834), Mr Rosindellâs Romford (603) and Mr Krugerâs East Wilsthire (545).
