Grassroots Briefing: Building 

the Pro-European Alliance 

It starts with you 
This briefing for pro-European campaigners is intended to supplement Best for Britain’s 
Grassroots guide to building the Pro-European Alliance​. It should help local campaigners to 
effectively take part in and drive the formation of Alliances from the ground up.  

Does North West England need Alliances? 

No Deal Brexit must be stopped. Government analysis shows the North West will lose out in all 
Brexit scenarios, with the local economy set to shrink by 12% in the event of a no-deal.1 

Nuclear Energy:  
Sellafield nuclear power plant in West Cumbria employs 10,000 people and is home to over 50% of 
the UK’s nuclear workforce. Leaving Euratom threatens several contracts with other European 
countries to trade, send, and reprocess spent fuel and nuclear waste. New standards will need to 
be established to keep these, leaving the industry in limbo in the meantime.  

EU Fundings:  
Billions in EU funding have been spent on projects including rebuilding Manchester city centre 
after the 1996 IRA bomb and the development of the Liverpool waterfront.2 Between 2014 and 
2020, Lancashire has been allocated £230m, to be spent on big projects including Blackpool Tower 
and Preston Bus Station3. Bootstrap, a social enterprise in East Lancashire working to get people 
from disadvantaged groups back into work, received around £300,000 from the EU in 2018 but 
won’t receive any more funding after 2019 if Brexit goes ahead.4  

NHS:  
North West hospitals, have already felt a sharp decline in the number of EU doctors, nurses and 
other health workers since the Brexit vote. There are crippling staffing shortages in Pennine Acute 
Hospitals NHS Trust, covering Fairfield General, North Manchester General, the Royal Oldham and 
Rochdale Infirmary. In November 2017, there were 3,200 confirmed nurse vacancies and 500 
consultant vacancies in the North West alone.5 Since then even more NHS staff from EU countries 
have left Greater Manchester hospitals, while the number of EU recruits is going down.

CO2 emissions:  
The Committee on Climate Change estimates that EU product standards helped deliver sizeable 
reductions in UK homes CO2 emissions, while saving duel-fuel households an average of £490 per 
year.6 Some of the highest domestic CO2 emissions per head in England are in the North. If the UK 
1
​EU Exit Analysis ​ pg 23 
2
​BBC 
3
​BBC 
4
​BBC 
5
​BBC  
6
​The Impact of Brexit on Energy in the North​ pg 5 

Printed and promoted by Best for Britain, the campaign name of UK-EU OPEN POLICY LIMITED registered at 
International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London, EC1A 2BN. Best for Britain is registered with The Electoral 
Commission. 
1 
 
 Best for Britain - Grassroots groups Pro-EU Alliance briefing note 

 
wishes to meet its own target of 80% reduction of CO2 by 2050, remaining within the existing EU 
scheme is key7.  

How do we know an Alliance will work? 

 

Left: ​This chart shows what would happen in a 

general election if there was no Pro-EU Alliance but 
a full Tory/Brexit Party Pact in the North West.  

As can be seen, a Tory/Brexit Party Pact would take 

an overall majority of seats within the region, while 
the Liberal Democrats and Labour would lose a 
significant number of seats.  

If the Pro-EU parties fail to work together we stand 

to split our vote and hand the North West to the 
Brexiters 

Right: ​This second chart illustrates 

the overall seat share if a full 
Tory/Brexit Pact is matched by a 
Pro-EU Alliance - including the 
Labour party - in a general election in 
the North West.  

It is clear that a Pro-EU Alliance 

would drastically improve the 
number of Pro-EU MPs returned, 
switching from majority Brexiter to 
majority remain. A Remain Alliance is 
necessary to fight against a 
disastrous no-deal Brexit.  
 

Are voters in the North West ready for a Pro-EU Alliance? 

Best for Britain’s ‘Brexit Shift’ report from December 20188 found that voters in the North East, 
Yorkshire & Humberside and the North West have moved the most on Brexit since the referendum. 
10.2% more voters in the North East would vote remain in a people’s vote, whilst 9.3% more voters 
in both Yorkshire & Humberside and the North West would also back staying in the EU. 

7
​The Impact of Brexit on Energy in the North​ pg 5 
8
Brexit Shift 2.0, published by Best for Britain and Hope not hate, December 2018, 
https://www.bestforbritain.org/brexit-shift-2 

2 
 Best for Britain - Grassroots groups Pro-EU Alliance briefing note 

Four of the top 20 constituencies that switched the most from leave to remain were in the North 
West: Liverpool Walton, Bootle, Preston and Knowsley. Liverpool Walton had the biggest shift 
towards remain. 

Who needs an Alliance? 

● Over 1.9 million switchers: ​Since the referendum, UK public opinion has shifted towards 
remaining in the EU, with over 10% of 2016 Leave voters now backing Remain as of 
November 2018. 
● Almost a fifth of UK voters are ‘persuadable’: ​Our data shows that 17% of UK voters can 
change their minds on Brexit, with 7% being soft Leavers that could potentially move 
towards Remain.  

So who are the switchers?  

In the North West, the biggest group of switchers from Leave to Remain are young voters 
(especially young women) that either supported Labour in 2015 or have switched from supporting 
the Conservatives in 2015 to Labour or other parties in 2017.  

Young (18-34) women who supported the Conservatives in 2015 are the demographic most likely 
to have switched, with over 20% of those who voted Leave now in favour of staying in.  

● For those young female Leavers that voted Conservative in 2015 but did not support the 
Tories in 2017, the number is 25%.  
● The trend is largely the same among young people that voted for Labour in 2015: 20% of 
Leave supporters in this demographic have switched to Remain.  

Young people, women, and disillusioned Conservative voters will continue to shift towards 
Remain as the consequences of a no deal Brexit become ever more apparent. 

What can you do? 

You have a voice. You represent a body of opinion in your area and on that basis alone you 
have a platform. But more than that, you represent an organised group with a supporter 
base and volunteers separate from the local political parties. That’s no small thing. 

Use your platform and the assets you have been building up over the past three years -  

● Use your status as a community leader to meet local party representatives in person 
● Use your platform to convene negotiations as a party-political ‘neutral’ participant  
● Use your group’s organisation as proof you can provide support and volunteers for the 
Alliance candidate 
● Use your supporters and volunteers to lobby local politicians 
● Use your social media to highlight the need for an Alliance and the support for it 
● Use local spokespeople to write to local papers and promote the Alliance 

3 
 Best for Britain - Grassroots groups Pro-EU Alliance briefing note 

Every area has different politics, history and local character. There is no one-size-fits-all answer. 
That’s why you, as a local campaigner, are best placed to make this happen. ​Good luck! 

4