CLACTON’S independent MP Douglas Carswell has refused to rule out re-joining the Conservatives before June’s snap General Election.

Mr Carswell defected from the Conservatives to UKIP in 2014, but stood down from the party to become an independent last month.

Speaking to the Gazette, Mr Carswell said he welcomed Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to call for a snap General Election on June 8.

Mr Carswell, who was campaigning on behalf Conservative county council candidate Ricky Callender in Harwich last week, also praised Mrs May as the right person to lead the country out of the European Union.

Mr Carswell said: “It is a fantastic decision to call a snap election.

“The people of Clacton want Brexit to be delivered and Prime Minister Theresa May is the right choice.

“20,000 people switched to UKIP in the Clacton by-election and they did it because they want us to leave the EU.

“It’s because of Clacton voters voting for UKIP that we got that referendum - and now it is job done.”

“They got what they wanted.”

When asked whether he will be standing as an independent or whether he wanted to rejoin the Conservatives, Mr Carswell said he intended to make a statement on the issue later this week.

UKIP donor Arron Banks has confirmed he will run against Mr Carswell in the upcoming election.

When asked on Twitter if he was planning to stand, following a previous threat to do so, he replied “yes”.

Frinton Conservative councillor Giles Watling fought Mr Carswell at the Clacton by-election in 2014 and the General Election in 2015.

“There will have to be a snap selection here as there will be all over the country and I am happy to stand if the local association wants me,” said Mr Watling.

“I feel that we have been largely ignored as a constituency for years now while our MP has been concentrating on other things.

“It is time someone started looking at the Clacton constituency and what it needs.

“Everybody gets a bit of election tiredness, but the people of Clacton will have a chance to say who their MP represents.

“People will support Theresa May in her firm stance about what we need to do about Brexit.”

Anthony Finnegan-Butler, the chairman of Clacton UKIP, welcomed the election as an opportunity to remove Mr Carswell as the constituency’s MP.

“The people of Clacton deserve to know where he stands on various issues,” he said.

“Douglas should have called a by-election when he left UKIP, but he didn’t want to. Now Mrs May has forced his hand.

“Personally, I will be very surprised if he wins. He’s not going to have the support of a lot of UKIP members or those who switched from the Tories.

“He will have a small band of loyal support, but whether that’s enough to beat the Conservatives, I don’t know.

“We will fight the election, but we haven’t had the chance to consider who our candidate will be.”

Gazette:

  • Douglas Carswell and Giles Watling shake hands at the General Election in 2015

Norman Jacobs, spokesman for the Clacton Labour, said the party would also be looking to select a candidate.

“We are very happy to be fighting another election – it is about time it was called,” he said.

“I know the Prime Minister called it over Brexit, but there are more important issues to discuss, such as public services and the NHS in general, which we feel are getting in a desperate state.

“We need a change of Government to deal with that.”

The Prime Minister required the support of two-thirds of MPs on Wednesday to go to the country.

The move stunned Westminster, as Mrs May and Number 10 had repeatedly insisted she would not seek an election before the scheduled 2020 poll.

But Mrs May, who has a fragile working majority of just 17 in the Commons, said she wanted “unity” as talks on Brexit begin with the European Union.