HOME Secretary Priti Patel dismissed former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine’s plea to lifelong Conservative voters to back the Liberal Democrats during a campaign visit to Dudley today.

Patel’s visit to Dudley came as Tory grandee Michael Heseltine called on Conservative supporters to abandon the party in favour of the Liberal Democrats to stop a potential no-deal Brexit.

Speaking to the News, Patel dismissed his intervention and said a vote for any party other than the Conservatives would make Jeremy Corbyn prime minister.

She said: “If voters want their voice back they should vote Conservative to get Brexit done so we can unleash the tremendous potential of our vote for our country. A vote for anyone else would just mean Jeremy Corbyn will get into Downing Street.”

The Home Secretary claimed the Labour Party do not share the 'same values' as the British public, as she cited today’s intervention from Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis that the party has not done enough to tackle anti-Semitism, which the Labour Party denies.

Lord Heseltine, who served under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, lost the Conservative whip earlier this year after he said he would ‘lend’ his vote to the Lib Dems in last May’s European elections.

Speaking at an event in Buckinghamshire yesterday, Lord Heseltine told Conservatives worried about the effects of Brexit to vote for the Liberal Democrats or former Tories turned independent candidates.

The Home Secretary was in Woodside in Dudley on November 26 to back local Conservative candidates Marco Longhi for Dudley North and Mike Wood for Dudley South.

For a full list of candidates standing in Dudley, click here.