SHAKEUP

New Center Party, Change UK, Registers to Fight Brexit

Eleven lawmakers split from the Labour and Conservative parties.

Britain has a new centrist political party after 11 lawmakers who quit the two major parties last month announced that they will contest future elections under the name Change UK. The party will be headed up by interim leader Heidi Allen, a former Conservative. The expedited move to register as an official party would allow Change UK to stand candidates in European elections that were never supposed to happen because of Brexit. Prime Minister Theresa May’s chaotic efforts to implement the results of the 2016 referendum mean there could be a delay that extends into the next European Parliament and requires Britain to hold new elections. Change UK hopes to capitalize on the delay to show that Britain has changed its mind. “There is clearly an appetite for an alternative to our broken politics which needs fundamental change, as shown by the disastrous Brexit process,” a spokesman said.