Our Independent Group knows it’s time for change in the UK, and not just on Brexit

We decided not to walk away from politics when we left our parties, but to roll our sleeves up and create a force in the centre ground vacated by the old party cartel

With European elections potentially around the corner, are you really happy with the existing offer from the main political parties? Is the choice between Corbynism and europhobia really the best Britain can do?

If you’re fed up with Brexit, take a moment to consider how Britain’s politics got into this mess.

The nationalists in the Conservative Party turned their backs on their “one nation” tradition, forcing David Cameron into a corner with a manifesto commitment to hold a referendum. In turn, Labour’s defeat saw hard-left activists hijack a once centre-left party and install at its head Jeremy Corbyn, who takes the world view that international organisations like Nato and the European Union are part of a capitalist conspiracy. As a consequence, the Remain campaign was undermined by a reluctant Labour leadership, which tipped the result into a 52 per cent leave result.

It is a story of the dysfunction of our two old political parties, taken over by loud voices on the fringes of the political spectrum.

Mainstream Britain – the small businesses, the workforce in manufacturing and service sectors, those who want to improve the quality of our public services – have been left behind and forgotten. ​MPs meanwhile are too frightened of deselection and losing their seats to stand up to these populist forces dragging their policies to the hard left and hard right. The Liberal Democrats haven’t recovered from their time in coalition with Cameron. So a vacuum has been created in the centre ground.

It’s crucial to understand that the corner we’ve painted our country into on Europe is rooted in the same cause as the failure to reform schools and hospitals, to revive our parliamentary democracy and to tackle so many of the unfair vested interests that are still all too powerful.

Solutions will never be found if you are obsessed by an ideology that insists on command-and-control statism on the one hand, or laissez-faire free market dogma on the other. Most people know that we organise our society best in a strong, regulated market economy, in turn generating resources to improve our public services.

It shouldn’t be rocket science – but it’s a point lost now on too many in our main political parties.

Along with 10 other MPs I concluded that enough was enough in February when we came together to form the Independent Group in parliament.

Many have said this will mean the end of our time in politics. But in all conscience I couldn’t pretend that Jeremy Corbyn was the right person to be prime minister and my former Conservative colleagues could no longer stand by while the Tories sacrificed the prospects of future generations on the altar of euroscepticism.

In recent years those on the centre-left and in the ‘liberal’ and one nation traditions have felt political homeless. No longer.

Yesterday we lodged our application with the Electoral Commission in the hope of registering as a new political party to be called “Change UK – The Independent Group”.

The amazing Heidi Allen has agreed to be our interim leader. Heidi’s background in small business and her compassion for the vulnerable and those most in need make her the right person to take us through to our inaugural conference in the autumn when a permanent leader will be chosen.

We decided not to walk away from politics when we left our parties, but to roll our sleeves up and create a force in the centre ground vacated by the old party cartel. Our values, set out on our website, www.theindependent.group, explain our approach on national security, supporting aspiration, providing decent services and tackling inequalities.

In recent years those on the centre-left and in the “liberal” and “one nation” traditions have felt politically homeless. No longer. We can’t afford to take for granted the rule of law, our free media, our parliamentary democracy and international rules-based institutions.

So, Change UK will take a long term, evidence-based approach to policy making, focusing not just on giving the public the choice to remain in the EU but on neglected priorities including climate change, skills and social care.

We’ve taken this step and – subject to Electoral Commission approval – we hope to give people a fresh choice in the centre ground, campaigning for a People’s Vote on Brexit and new solutions for our broken politics too. Never has it been truer to say – it’s time for change.

Chris Leslie is the The Independent Group MP for Nottingham East