Natalie Elphicke: Conservative MP moves to Labor

Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke has defected to the Labor Party, saying the Tories “have become synonymous with incompetence and division”.

In a statement released just as family housing began, the Dover MP said the key factors in her decision were housing and border security.

She accused Rishi Sunak of “broken promises” and abandoning key promises.

Labor will retain its current candidate in Dover and Deal at the next general election and Ms Elphicke will stand down, according to the BBC.

The constituency replaces Dover, where Ms Elphicke had a majority of 12,278 votes at the last election, following boundary changes.

In dramatic scenes, Prime Minister’s Questions began in the House of Commons with Ms Elphicke crossing the room to sit behind Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Many Conservative MPs were perplexed and confused.

The news was only announced at midday and many Conservative MPs had not realized that their former colleague was now sitting opposite them – just behind Sir Keir and therefore in the camera when he speaks – rather than ‘by their side.

Sir Keir welcomed her to the party, asking Mr Sunak “what is the point of this failed, tottering government” while “the Tory MP for Dover, on the front line of the small boat crisis, says we cannot “can’t trust the Prime Minister with our borders and joins Labour”.

Dover is the arrival point for many people crossing the Channel on small boats.

In her statement, Ms Elphicke said Mr Sunak’s government is “failing to keep our borders safe and secure”, with lives lost in the English Channel and small boat arrivals “at record levels”.

On housing, she said the government had “failed to build the homes we need” and had “betrayed” renters and renters by failing to deliver on promises to end no-fault evictions and abolish land rents.

“When I was elected in 2019, the Conservative Party was at the center of British politics,” she said.

“A lot has changed since then. The elected Prime Minister (Boris Johnson) was ousted in a coup led by the unelected Rishi Sunak.

“Under Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives have become synonymous with incompetence and division. The central pitch has been abandoned and key promises from the 2019 manifesto have been abandoned. »

In contrast, she said Labor had “changed beyond recognition” since 2019 and “now occupies the center of British politics”.

She added that the party had a “plan to build the homes we need” and that its economic and defense policies “are responsible and trustworthy”.

Ms Elphicke was elected in 2019, taking back the seat of Dover that was held by her disgraced husband, Charlie Elphicke.

It comes after former minister Mr Poulter also defected to Labor, over the Conservatives’ record on the NHS.

This is the fourth defection from the Conservatives since 2019.

Lee Anderson, who sat briefly as an independent, joined the Reform Party earlier this year, while Christian Wakeford left the Conservatives for Labor in 2022.

A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “People in Dover and Deal will be disappointed to have felt the impact of illegal immigration.

“They had an MP who sat in the party and fought to tackle this problem head on, now they have an MP in a party who worked to block our plans to tackle illegal immigration 139 times.”