An open letter to David Cameron from Professor David Sanders, Regius Professor of Political Science at the University of Essex, has challenged the Prime Minister to establish a new ‘centrist’ political party.

Published in full today (July 1) in The Conversation the open letter argues a new political alliance needs to be forged across normal political divides to save the UK’s links with the European Union.

Professor Sanders argues the costs to the UK of leaving the European Union are so huge and the UK’s political future outside the European Union so uncertain that radical political action is needed and Mr Cameron has the opportunity to lead this.

With both the Labour Party and Conservative Party facing irreparable splits over Europe Professor Sanders also suggests this is the right moment to redefine the political landscape.

He writes: “Please, Mr Cameron: be brave and be bold. You have been before. In the interests of the United Kingdom, please do the right thing now Cameron to be . Put all your political weight behind the creation of a new centre party that keeps Britain in the EU (and thereby avoids all the costs of Brexit) and rejuvenates the centre of gravity of British politics.”

• Read the full article on The Conversation

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More about our Regius Professor

Professor David Sanders is the UK’s first Regius Professor of Political Science. He co-edited the top UK political science journal, the British Journal of Political Science, between 1990 and 2008.

He is a Fellow of the British Academy and received a Special Recognition Award from the Political Studies Association in 2012. From 2000-2012 he was a Principal Investigator for the British Election Study.

His current areas of research include political participation; election forecasting; the politics of the UK public sector; and measuring and assessing European citizenship.