This is the formula needed to defeat Boris Johnson and a no-deal Brexit

Boris Johnson outside 10 Downing Street. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire. - Credit: PA

We know what we need to do to defeat the opposition at a snap general election, can the Remain movement rise to the challenge?

The formula to defeat Boris Johnson in a general election while emphasising opposition to any sort of Brexit seems fairly clear:

– An agreement between the smaller and nationalist parties (we cannot wait any longer for Labour to make up their minds).

– Protection for the 62 sitting MPs from these parties – the SNP 35, the Lib Dem 12, the Independents and Change’s 10, Plaid Cymru’s four and the Greens’ one.

– Do not run against Labour and Conservative MPs who have expressed strongly pro-Remain views and will commit publicly to vote in parliament for a second referendum.

– Do not run where the seat is a lost cause for the coalition if the opposition candidate is strongly pro-Remain and will commit publicly to vote in parliament for a second referendum.

– In all other seats, the party which finished closest in the 2017 general election should take precedence.

John Hopwood

The latest Downing Street posturing says it is impossible to stop us leaving the EU on October 31 because Johnson will either force a general election, effectively shutting down parliament, or refuse to stand down as PM even if he loses a vote of no confidence.

In the face of this lunacy (and they call us undemocratic!), the EU should announce that because of the likelihood of a swift change of government, it will hold its breath and allow whatever new regime is elected to re-enter the EU on exactly the same terms as before.

Hence we might leave without a deal on October 31 and be back in the fold with a new PM by mid-November.

Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson might also want to consider the wisdom of going to the country in the earliest days of a no-deal exit, when the risks of border chaos, medicine shortages, mass protests in Scotland and Ireland and disruptions to food supply lines are at their highest. This is the logical extension of where these supposedly clever men are taking us.

Anna Ginsberg

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