Labour MPs call for the party to stand down against Zac Goldsmith to avoid splitting anti-Tory vote

Lisa Nandy, Clive Lewis, and Jonathan Reynolds issued the call on Wednesday

Zac Goldsmith’s decision to trigger a by-election has been dismissed as a vanity project (Getty)

Labour should decline to stand a candidate at the Richmond Park by-election in order to increase the chances of the Liberal Democrat candidate beating Zac Goldsmith, a group of the party’s MPs have said.

Three MPs from across the party warned that Labour standing in the snap poll would split the anti-Conservative vote in the seat and could hand victory to Mr Goldsmith.

The MP, whose failed mayoral campaign notoriously claimed that Sadiq Khan consorted with “extremists”, has triggered the by-election in protest against the expansion of Heathrow airport.

The Liberal Democrats are the runaway favourite to challenge him in the seat, having held it until 2010 and come second last time with 11,389 votes to Labour’s 7,296 and the Tories’ 34,404.

With the Conservatives holding only a slim majority in the House of Commons an extra opposition MP and one fewer Tory could make it easier to stop legislation in its tracks, with Government whips fighting for every vote.

In the Witney by-election earlier this month the Liberal Democrats increased their vote share significantly, running the Tories closer than had been anticipated. If the swing at that by-election were replicated in Richmond Park, Mr Goldsmith would lose.

Clive Lewis, a left-wing Corbyn loyalist, Jonathan Reynolds, a centrist who serves on the party’s front bench, and Lisa Nandy, a figure from the soft left of the party who stepped down from the shadow Cabinet in the summer, wrote a joint article explaining their call.

They say the move would “put the national interest first”. Mr Lewis told BBC Radio 5Live that the election was “an opportunity to give Theresa May's Government a good kicking”.

“With the Tories not standing against him, the fight will come down to a two way contest between him and the Liberal Democrats, whose vote will be split with the Greens and Labour,” they wrote in the piece for the LabourList website.

Lisa Nandy, one of the signatories of the letter (Getty)

“If there is any chance of kicking Goldsmith out of Parliament, the vote against him must not be split. That’s why we think Labour should consider not standing a candidate in this by-election.

“Not only did Goldsmith bring a new low to mainstream politics with his campaign against Sadiq Khan, but he is a hard Brexiteer willing to throw hard-won environmental and workplace protections down the drain despite all his talk of being green.

“His claim that this is a referendum on Heathrow is absurd, as his chief opponent [Lib Dem Sarah Olney] also opposes a third runway. This is nothing but a vanity project and Labour should think carefully about playing a part in it.”

The call is likely to be met with opposition from some Labour tribalists and it is understood that the party will stand a candidate at the by-election.

The Conservatives are not standing a candidate against Mr Goldsmith; he is standing as an independent but with the support of his local party.

The three MPs have previously backed more cooperation between Labour and other progressive parties, arguing that the first-past-the-post-voting system distorts results. They have also previously suggested that a voting system that produces proportional representation would be a long-term solution to the problem.