Another Conservative MP in UK defects to Labour Party over 'broken promises'

LONDON

UK Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke on Wednesday defected to the main opposition Labour Party over what she called its "broken promises."

"Today, I announce that I have decided to join the Labour Party and that I will sit in Parliament as a Labour," the MP for Dover said in a statement as she then crossed the floor in the House of Commons before the Prime Minister’s Questions.

Criticizing the leadership of "unelected" Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – as he was chosen by Conservative Party lawmakers in October 2022 when the last premier stepped down, not after a general election bringing his party to power – Elphicke said that under him, the Conservatives have become "a byword" for incompetence and division.

"The center ground has been abandoned and key pledges of the 2019 (party) manifesto have been ditched," added Elphicke.

She stressed: "We need to move on from the broken promises of Rishi Sunak's tired and chaotic government."

She said it is "time for change" and for a Labour government led by party leader Keir Starmer, adding: "The general election cannot come soon enough."

Late last month, Dan Poulter, Conservative MP and ex-health minister, also defected to Labour after blasting the Conservative Party as the "nationalist party of the right."

Britain’s next general election is expected by next January, but is not yet scheduled. Most polls, and the Conservative’s poor showing in last week’s local elections, show the Labour Party favored to win.