Ealing Green Party tactically withdrew from a key election seat in Ealing Central and Acton last week ahead of the 2017 general election.

The party, which won 1,841 votes in the 2015 election, chose not to field a candidate after Rupa Huq made a public commitment to support the Green Party’s three major policies.  

It is thought that the progressive alliance will give the Labour candidate, who beat the Conservatives by only 274 votes in 2015, a better chance of retaining her seat on June 8.

Ms Huq said there was a risk a split in the progressive vote would leave the people of Ealing and Acton with a hard-Brexiteer MP and welcomed the support.

The Ealing resident said: “I welcome the decision and indeed offers of help from anyone who’ll lend a hand in a tight race.

“The local Green Party knows that I am an MP who is a resolute remainer that I will continue to fight for the UK to stay in the EU and vote accordingly.

“For me this is respecting the will of the people in Ealing, Acton and Chiswick.”

Green Party chair and parliamentary candidate for Ealing Southall, Peter Ward, believes Ms Huq remains the candidate most aligned with his party’s policies on opposing a third runway at Heathrow Airport, resisting a hard Brexit and supporting proportional representation.

He said: “Rupa has given us her word that she will continue to fight for those policies and we have accepted her promise.

“Her views are close to ours and she is somebody who we respect and get along with and the last thing we want to do is split the liberal left vote and put somebody who is against those policies through.”

Green Party membership secretary Mark Daniel said: “The Conservatives are the ones who want to expand Heathrow, they are the ones who can’t be trusted on the matters of EU environmental protection and they certainly aren’t supporting a fair election system.

“If the Conservatives were to support these things then we would be happy to support them.

“Rupa Huq is quite respected as a good constituency MP and she is highly regarded even by people that are not Labour Party supporters.

“She has only got a very small majority so we think it might make a difference in her case.

“If we are telling our members that there is a candidate that supports green issues then we hope we are making some kind of difference given that it is such a marginal seat.”

Mr Ward, whose upcoming campaign will focus on the area of Hanwell and on reaching out to young people, believes the Green message is one that ultimately people identify with.

He said: “I would like to see a good fair fight where we all go and do things fairly.

“I have to be honest and say I was very disappointed with Theresa May criticising her European colleagues and that’s not good for the country, it's not good for her and it's not good for Brexit.

“I fear that if that is going to be the sign of things to come it's going to be a very disappointing election.”

Ms Huq has spoken more than 400 times in the House of Commons, questioned David Cameron and Theresa May repeatedly on behalf of constituents and defied Mr Corbyn on the triggering of article 50.

She has also said she will fight the election on her record as local champion.

She said: “We have the biggest membership of any political party so there is a real buzz around Jeremy Corbyn who has been thoughtful and has been adept at identifying the real issues people are facing now.”