The Times has received evidence that the Liberal Democrats are on the brink of leaving the Traffic Light Coalition - formed of the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, and the Green Party - over arguments involving /u/contrabannedthemc’s intentions to stand in the Oxfordshire by-election, as reported by The Times yesterday.

A source close to /u/WillShakespeare99 showed The Times messages between the leadership of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, where Liberal Democrat leader /u/estoban06 is seen saying “the general consensus is the Greens are the issue”.

Controversy erupted in the TLC over the recent days when former Green Party stalwart, and Oxfordshire MP, /u/contrabannedthemc left the Green Party to form his own party, the People’s Movement. Sources tell The Times that he, and the Green Party, expected the TLC to support his campaign for the seat in the by-election, but the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party both baulked at the idea, citing irreconcilable ideological differences and a strong desire to run their own candidate.

After a series of internal coalition spats, this furore led the Liberal Democrats to hold a series of votes on their future in the TLC after the Liberal Democrat leader received a petition demanding a debate and a vote. Subsequent results indicated “strong dissatisfaction with the Greens”, in /u/estoban06’s words, and a desire to continue an Official Opposition coalition solely between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party.

However, The Times has also seen evidence that the Labour Party leader intends to resign if such an event occurs. While conceding that “[The Labour Party is] pretty pissed at the Greens too”, he also said that “I’d still feel like I’d need to resign… [but] I haven’t made a decision yet. When contacted by The Times, /u/WillShakespeare refused to comment.

Liberal Democrat leader, /u/estoban06, said, “I'd be saddened to lose him as a leadership colleague, he's an excellent, competent leader who is well liked across the coalition,” before adding, “The collapse of TLC may seem like an appropriate end to his leadership.”

The Green Party leader, /u/IceCreamSandwich401, meanwhile, described the Liberal Democrat petition as “hypocritical”, and said that the Liberal Democrats “talked about keeping the coalition together only a few days ago”. He went on to add that the Greens will “endorse Conway regardless of what the Lib Dems do”. Should the Liberal Democrats refuse to support the Greens’ preferred candidate, he said he “would have to speak to the rest of my party” to discuss the future of the TLC.

The Times has also seen evidence that this is being played against a backdrop of the Labour Party’s proposing a merger with the Green Party. The leaked communications see /u/WillShakespeare99 stating that he “desperately wants to get a merger agreed that would hopefully nullify this whole thing”, while also describing the by-election fiasco as a “massive distraction”. From the Labour Party’s perspective, it seems that the Green Party’s apparent recalcitrance is not helping this particular endeavour.

Tensions remain high within the TLC, and we will bring you more news as this breaking news story develops.

Edit:

The Times has received evidence that the Green Party is itself holding a vote on whether or not to remain in the TLC.