Ukip may not stand candidates in some seats currently represented by strongly pro-Brexit Conservative MPs, sources in the party have said, potentially giving Theresa May an easier task in securing a larger majority.
Conservatives named as possible beneficiaries of the strategy include the North East Somerset MP, Jacob Ress-Mogg, and Philip Davies, who represents Shipley, both of whom have strong anti-EU views.
There is also keenness among some Ukip figures for the party to stand aside in seats where a pro-leave Conservative MP is facing a close challenge from the pro-remain Liberal Democrats.
While the main beneficiaries would be Tories, it is possible that some pro-Brexit Labour MPs, for example Kate Hoey in Vauxhall, could also see no Ukip candidate stand against them.
Ukip would present such a move as a principled decision to best secure departure from the EU. However, it would also allow the cash-strapped party to focus its limited resources on specific areas.
The party’s biggest donor, the insurance millionaire Arron Banks, has quit Ukip, though he is in talks to be a possible candidate in June’s election.
Without any MPs – sole Ukip representative Douglas Carswell left the party last month – it does not qualify for any of the allowances connected to having representatives in the Commons.
The party will decide in the coming days where it will place candidates. Several senior Ukip sources said there was a discussion over whether it might be best not to contest seats against some Tories who campaigned strongly to leave the EU.
The plan has echoes of the progressive alliance, championed by the Greens, which calls for them, the Liberal Democrats and Labour to stand just one candidate in seats where a combined centre-left vote could defeat the Conservative.
“It is a bit like the progressive alliance, but it would be entirely unilateral,” said one Ukip figure involved in deciding the party’s election strategy. “We know very well we’d get nothing from the Conservatives in return.”
The decision over which seats to contest will follow a final session of vetting prospective election candidates by central party officials this weekend.
The source involved in the discussions said some people were pushing for a central policy that seats now represented by strongly pro-leave Tories should not be contested.
“We see ourselves as the watchdogs of Brexit, and that’s the offer we’re making to the public at the election,” the source said. “It would look a bit strange if we’re using finite resources to compete against people who basically think the same as us over the issue.”
Another option would be for local parties to decide whether to stand or not. Another Ukip source, involved in selecting candidates in their region, said this would be seen as a good option.
“Let’s just say that if the order came down that we should put people up against everyone, even one local Conservative MP who’s been campaigning against the EU longer than most people in Ukip, then it wouldn’t be very popular,” they said. “I’d like to hope they leave it up to us who we stand and where.”
Another Ukip source said this was a common sentiment within the party: “If you take Jacob Rees-Mogg as an example, you’re likely to get plenty of people who’d say: ‘He’s a good egg, we agree with him on most things, why do we want to oppose him?’”
While such a move would most likely have little impact in the seats held by Rees-Mogg and Davies – at the 2015 election their majorities were both more than twice the size of the Ukip vote – it could be crucial where the Liberal Democrats hope to take constituencies from the Conservatives.
The decisions about which Conservatives would be seen as sufficiently robust in their pro-Brexit views to avoid a Ukip challenge would most likely be made by local Ukip activists. However, there are a series of key Lib Dem target seats held by Tories who voted to leave.
In Lewes, Maria Caulfield won a majority of just over 1,000 from the Liberal Democrats in 2015, while the Ukip candidate secured more than 5,000 votes. Other Lib Dem target seats held by pro-Brexit Conservatives include Marcus Fysh in Yeovil, the Colchester MP, Will Quince, and Anne-Marie Trevelyan in Berwick-on-Tweed.