General election: Sinn Fein stands down in three seats to help remainers, including unionist Hermon – live news

Rolling coverage of the day’s political events as they happen, including 2019 general election campaigning and the election of the new SpeakerCorbyn warns shadow cabinet dissenters to fall in line on BrexitJuncker: Boris Johnson told ‘so many lies’ in EU referendum campaignQ&A: how will MPs elect a new Speaker? 1.48pm GMT Plaid chose the same setting for its election campaign launch as it plumped for in 2017 – a hotel close to the Menai Bridge in north Wales. But the tone and message was very different.Two years ago the slogan was “Defending Wales” – against what Plaid saw as the Tories’ indifference and the Labour-led Welsh government’s incompetence. Plaid’s ultimate goal – independence – hardly got a look-in. 1.29pm GMT Sinn Fein has announced it will not stand in three constituencies in Northern Ireland in a bid to prevent DUP MPs winning the seats. The party will stand aside in South Belfast, East Belfast and North Down. As the Press Association reports, Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald urged supporters to instead back the SDLP, the Alliance party and independent unionist Lady Sylvia Hermon respectively in those three seats.Announcing the move, McDonald said: In many ways this is a once-in-a-generation election, the stakes are very high in this election. People have a fundamental choice to make – to vote for a positive, inclusive future or to turn their backs on that and to back candidates who have been the architects of Brexit and who have acted very, very deliberately against the democratic wishes of people here in the north and more fundamentally against the economic and social interests of citizens who live here.You can call this a pact, you can call it what you wish – the reality is we are asking people to come out and vote for those pro-Remain candidates. We believe that is the right and progressive thing to do.It sits very comfortably with me to ask and invite voters to thoughtfully do the right thing.And in this case it means defying hard Brexiteers, the likes of Nigel Dodds, the likes of the DUP candidates who have very, very recklessly acted against the interests of everybody. Continue reading…
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