CONSERVATIVES have accused progressive parties of making “shady” deals and insulting their own members by agreeing not to run candidates against each other.

Councillor Mary Mears said parties must stop ‘playing games’ with voters after Green and Liberal Democrats agreed not to run candidates in a bid to remove Conservative MP Simon Kirby and secure Caroline Lucas’s re-election.

Lib Dem members voted on Wednesday night not to contest Brighton Pavilion because of the two parties’ similar stance on Brexit and to say thanks to Ms Lucas for persuading the Greens not to run in the Richmond by-election.

Green members also voted not to stand in Brighton Kemptown where minister Simon Kirby is defending a majority of 690.

The move has been welcomed by Momentum Brighton and Hove who said they will focus all their efforts into winning back the seat Labour lost in 2010 despite the fact the party will also be protecting their own marginal in Hove where Peter Kyle is defending a majority of 1,236.

Satirist Mark Steel is among the voices urging Labour to join in the spirit of alliance rather than spend resources trying to unseat a fellow progressive.

He tweeted: “As Labour’s doing so well nationally, it makes sense to devote all spare resources to opposing Caroline Lucas and the Greens in Brighton.”

But Labour members have voiced opposition to cooperating with the Green Party.

City councillor Caroline Penn said: “A progressive alliance is just a dodgy back room deal where Greens demand everything and give up nothing.”

Her colleague cllr Mears said: “I think it is very shady to do all these backroom deals. It is an insult to their members and to voters to take away the option to vote for their party. They should not be playing games.

“I don’t see their coalition of chaos lasting very long.”

A Momentum spokesman said the group was urging all its 2,500 supporters to win back Brighton Kemptown to help deliver Jeremy Corbyn as the next prime minister.

He added: “We believe our members and supporters, regardless of which constituency they live in, should prioritise victory in Brighton Kemptown, to make a crucial difference in the campaign for progressive politics in our city.”

Caroline Lucas said “something amazing” was happening in Brighton with voters putting aside party allegiances to deliver “a fairer voting system” and defeat the Tories. She said in “a handful of places” party members were taking “brave decisions for the common good” and urged Lib Dem and Labour leaderships to talks about electoral alliances.