(Former) Conservative MPs Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen resigned from the Tory party yesterday to join forces with the seven (former) Labour MPs in the newly formed Independent Group. All ten are refusing to hold by-elections to see if the people who voted them into their seat still support them now that they have left the platform on which they were elected.
Different reasons were given for their resignations, but all appear to be concerned with the direction the party has gone in. All are dismayed that Theresa May continues to pander to the far right of her own party and it certainly seems to be the case that she will ignore the will of Parliament to please a handful of backbenchers. Perhaps the prime minister will come round to the idea that if she is to get her proposals through, she needs the support of the majority of the Commons.
Today we will see the public sector net borrowing figures for January but attention will continue to be trained on political developments, Brexit negotiations and economic data releases from Europe and the US.
