Election 2017: Pro-EU campaigners draw up hit list of Brexit MPs

Pro-EU campaigners have come up with a hit list of Brexit-supporting MPs they will try to get rid of at the General Election.

Key supporters of Leave will be targeted in 20 constituencies, while support will also be given to 20 MPs who have spoken out against a hard Brexit.

Among the seats that pro-European groups Open Britain, European Movement and Britain for Europe plan to focus on during the campaign are those of former Conservative Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith and Labour's Kate Hoey.

They will also use its database of 600,000 supporters to provide help to Labour's Mary Creagh, Tory Neil Carmichael and Green MP Caroline Lucas.

The groups say more MPs will be added to both lists as the campaign progresses.

Labour former Cabinet minister Lord Mandelson, an Open Britain board member, said: "As a former European trade commissioner, I have seen such negotiations from the inside.

"For Britain to get the best possible trade deal, it is totally counter-productive for Theresa May to go into them with a rigid set of red lines."

Stephen Dorrell, chair of European Movement Chair, said the June 8 vote was "about something much bigger than party politics".

"Pro-Europeans need to stand up and be counted between now and June 8th," he said.

"The supporters of our organisations want to know where they can make a difference in this campaign and we are providing the tools for them to be able to.

"It is time for our activists to get behind all candidates, regardless of which political tradition they are from, if they are committed to opposing hard Brexit and willing to keep an open mind about the Brexit negotiations and the national interest."

The 20 Brexit-supporting MPs being targeted are:

:: Kate Hoey (Labour, Vauxhall)
:: Victoria Borwick (Conservative, Kensington)
:: David Burrowes (Conservative, Enfield Southgate)
:: Nicola Blackwood (Conservative, Oxford West and Abingdon)
:: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative, Bristol North West)
:: Theresa Villiers (Conservative, Chipping Barnet)
:: James Berry (Conservative, Kingston and Surbiton)
:: Matthew Offord (Conservative, Hendon)
:: Maria Caulfield (Conservative, Lewes)
:: Steve Baker (Conservative, Wycombe)
:: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Chingford and Woodford Green)
:: Byron Davies (Conservative, Gower)
:: Paul Scully (Conservative, Sutton and Cheam)
:: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party, Belfast East)
:: Christopher Davies (Conservative, Brecon and Radnorshire)
:: William Wragg (Conservative, Hazel Grove)
:: Luke Hall (Conservative, Thornbury and Yate)
:: James Heappey (Conservative, Wells)
:: Derek Thomas (Conservative, St Ives)
:: Caroline Ansell (Conservative, Eastbourne)