Tory Lawmaker Refutes Reports UKIP Donated Seats in Key Margins to Conservatives

Member of the European Parliament from the UK Conservative Party, Daniel Dalton, stated that UKIP has not donated seats in the Parliament to the Conservatives and the Conservative Party has always been clear it does not believe in back room deals on parliamentary constituencies.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The UK Independence Party (UKIP) does not nominate candidates in a large number of constituencies in the parliamentary election because it gave up hope of winning a lot of seats, but not because it seeks to boost chances of Conservative candidates, a member of the European Parliament from the UK Conservative Party, Daniel Dalton, told Sputnik.

On Thursday, after the closing of submission of candidate nominations for UK general election scheduled on June 8, it turned out that UKIP did not stand nominees in at least 29 key marginal constituencies. Media alleged that UKIP had donated seats to pro-Brexit Conservatives to ensure the victory of both parties overall goal.

"UKIP has not donated seats in the Parliament to the Conservatives and the Conservative Party has always been clear it does not believe in back room deals on parliamentary constituencies. The UKIP leadership appears to have given up hope of winning representation in Parliament in this election, but given they have never had more than two MPs in Parliament I do not think their absence in Westminster will have much impact," Dalton said.

Dalton added that UKIP supporters were unlikely to give their votes in support of Labour party members because they did not have confidence in the party’s leader Jeremy Corbyn in the capacity of the UK Prime Minister due to his numerous changes of stance on Brexit.

The YouGov/Times poll, carried out on May 9-10, revealed on Thursday that the Conservatives are expected to receive 46 percent of the votes and 30 percent of the votes are forecast to be given to the members of the Labour Party. The Liberal Democrats and UKIP members are projected to gain 11 percent and 65 percent of the votes respectively.

On March 29, the United Kingdom triggered the EU withdrawal process by handing a formal letter to European Council President Donald Tusk. According to Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the United Kingdom now has two years to complete the negotiations, and must leave the European Union on March 29, 2019.