A group calling itself the Suffolk EU Alliance is out to cause a political stir in Suffolk by tactically voting, en masse, for hand-picked candidates in the forthcoming county and general elections.

East Anglian Daily Times: Suffolk EU Alliance staged its first public meeting at St Michael's Rooms, Framlingham. Speaker Dr Robbie Moffatt. Picture: CONTRIBUTEDSuffolk EU Alliance staged its first public meeting at St Michael's Rooms, Framlingham. Speaker Dr Robbie Moffatt. Picture: CONTRIBUTED (Image: Archant)

The group was formed to gain ‘grass roots’ influence over the council elections on May 4, but has doubled its ambitions to sway votes for central government, following the announcement of a snap election on June 8.

Campaigning from an unashamedly pro-European platform, the group pledged to rally supporters into voting for sympathetic candidates in both campaigns.

Suffolk was the only county in East Anglia where all seven Conservative MPs campaigned to stay in the EU, despite almost 60% of voters wanting to leave. However, when it came to voting on House of Lords’ alterations to Article 50 legislation, all fell in line with the party majority to overturn amendments on guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens and giving Parliament a “meaningful vote” on the final Brexit deal. It opened the way for triggering Article 50 at the end of March, but was seen by many Remainers as initiating a hard break from the EU.

The Conservative manifesto is expected to repeat the Prime Minister’s ‘clean Brexit’ commitment to pull out of the single market and European jurisdiction, and withdraw from the customs union.

East Anglian Daily Times: Suffolk EU Alliance staged its first public meeting at St Michael's Rooms, Framlingham. Speaker Simon Barrow. Picture: CONTRIBUTEDSuffolk EU Alliance staged its first public meeting at St Michael's Rooms, Framlingham. Speaker Simon Barrow. Picture: CONTRIBUTED (Image: Archant)

But the Suffolk EU Alliance will argue that softer withdrawal can be achieved by throwing bloc votes behind an effective opposition – though they will not rule out trying to turn the heads of sitting Conservative MPs.

Three of the group’s main representatives are Alastair Forsyth, Alison Moffatt and chairman Julia Ewart, who helped stage an open discussion of plans in Framlingham.

Mr Forsyth said: “We held our first meeting in early January, having been very much encouraged by Julia’s passion for Europe, and her opposition to it being abandoned.

“We formed a like-minded group and decided the best course to achieve our goal was in cross-party alliance.

East Anglian Daily Times: Suffolk EU Alliance staged its first public meeting at St Michael's Rooms, Framlingham. Jacki and Alastair Forsythe, of the organising committee. Picture: CONTRIBUTEDSuffolk EU Alliance staged its first public meeting at St Michael's Rooms, Framlingham. Jacki and Alastair Forsythe, of the organising committee. Picture: CONTRIBUTED (Image: Archant)

“Our policy centres on tactical voting. I believe something similar worked well in Stoke [where Labour’s Gareth Snell defeated Ukip leader Paul Nuttall in the 2017 Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election].

“We’re very much in our infancy, with about 180 people joining us so far. Our target is to amass an amount of supporters to help spread the word.

“We see no reason why someone can’t run under a party banner – but backed by the alliance. Our bloc vote will go behind the best person for the job.

“The more supporters we have, the more effective we can be. We’re out to make an impact.

Mrs Moffatt said: “We have banded together to get tactical voting in place to influence what we see as ‘hard Brexit’ – something we don’t want.

“We must be evangelical about this tactical voting – it’s the way ahead, particularly in an area with such a Tory bias.

“The arrogance of the ‘sure thing’ round here is that, if you disagree with an MP, you get shot down. No one is prepared to listen.

“We might stand a chance of giving a sitting MP a run for their money. There is sense in forming an opposition with a broadly ‘soft Brexit’ approach.

“We don’t think our modus operandi has changed since the snap general election was called. We knew there were county council elections approaching, and at a grass roots level, wanted pro-EU candidates’ bums on seats.”

Although politically motivated to influence the electorate, the alliance claims not to be a political party in its own right.

“We hope to become kingmakers, rather than kings,” said Mrs Moffatt.

“Seven weeks is a very short time to gird our loins. We have to identify our most pro-EU candidates and throw our weight behind them.

“Our initial aim is to raise awareness of what leaving the EU will mean for us. We then aim to form a team to identify the right candidates, who we can then recommend all of our supporters back.

“We want to be in a position of influence when we talk to candidates.

“We must set aside the old tribal nature of voting. There will be traditional Tory voters appalled by this Brexit mess – for which, I think, David Cameron will be known as the man who broke the union.

“People were asked to make a binary choice last year. We face a two-pronged challenge of convincing people they voted the wrong way and convincing politicians to have the courage of their convictions.

“The problem with Labour and Tory whips is that MPs struggle to vote on principle – and the problem with independents is their lack of political clout in a two-party system.

“We realise the danger of sounding like people who say ‘anyone but the Tories’.”

Mrs Ewart, who ran as a Conservative for Saxmundham in the 2015 district council election, said: “We were inspired and thrilled by the turnout at our first meeting.

“One of our frustrations with the referendum was that people didn’t hear the full truth. We want to redress that and ally ourselves to a pro-EU candidate.”