CONSERVATIVE MPs and voters who want to join the Labour Party would be “more than welcome” according to Shadow Environment Secretary Steve Reed.
His comments came during PMQs Live on GB News moments after it was announced that Tory MP for Dover and Deal, Natalie Elphicke, had defected to Labour.
Reed told GB News: “We want to be a party that can bring this country back together after the Tories have divided it.
“Every single Tory MP and every single Tory voter that comes over to the Labour Party is more than welcome because they are backing a changed Labour Party unrecognisable from the Labour party that lost the last General Election, offering the country's future back after these years of failure under the Conservatives.
“Natalie Elphicke is only doing what a lot of Conservative voters have done. In North Yorkshire, we won the mayoralty there that used to be a rock-solid Tory heartland.
“Aldershot, the home of the British Army - Rushmoor council voted in a Labour council for the first time last week, so Tories are coming across to Labour in their droves because they've given up on their party's failure, and they're investing, they're hoping Keir Starmer’s changed the Labour Party.”
Conservative Health Minister Helen Whately said: “If Natalie was worrying about holding her constituents, and we know we had a tough time in the local elections the other day, but actually we've got a way to go until the General Election and we're really delivering on the public's priorities.
“So one of the things I would say to her, she should hold on and give us time to really see through the things that we're working on.
“We're clear on the public's priorities, the Prime Minister's clear on the economy, the NHS, controlling our borders, and we're making real progress on those things.
“We're seeing inflation come right down, on the economy, we’re seeing growth in the UK compared to in other similar countries. We are seeing waits come down in the NHS.
“I’m the minister with oversight of urgent and emergency care. We're seeing better performance in our A&E departments, better response times from ambulances.”
