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Brexit is the catalyst for the current convulsions in the UK's two largest parties. Anna Soubry tells the BBC.

"All the main parties are broken," she says.

"Both of our parties have moved to the extremes, and they aren't going to change...We can't go on like this."

She suggests Brexiteers have "taken over" the Conservatives and fellow One-Nation Tories believe the party is "doomed...and there's no way back now...The Conservative Party is now the party of Brexit."

Speaking about her new former Labour colleagues, she says "we have far more in common than that which divides us".

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Conservative MP David TC Davies suggests today's developments will have little short term effect on the government's chances of getting a Brexit deal through Parliament as the three MPs were not backing Theresa May anyway.

He asks why the MPs aren't going back to their constituencies in by-elections, especially when they are calling for a so-called "People's Vote" on Europe.

"There are probably a few people in the Conservative Party who are unhappy with our policy on Brexit," he adds, saying that "they need to accept that they lost the referendum".

The deal on the table is the "easiest way" of sorting out the current situation within the next month, he finishes.

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Heidi Allen has been speaking to Vicki Young on the News Channel.

She says there's a "real sense" that the movement they have joined could grow "but we need to wait for more colleagues to join us".

"There's a lot of debates still to be had" over the future policy and platform of the group, adding "we will have a leader at some point".

She echoes Ms Soubry's comments about the Conservatives, saying "the party's left us rather than the other way around".

"Our voices are completely unheard and have remained unheard," she says, adding that she was "wasting my time" by staying in the Conservatives.

She warns that her former party and Labour might "force us" into fighting elections before the new party has a chance to form itself..

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Speaking to BBC News, Dr Wollaston says it had been a "really difficult decision" to quit the Conservatives but was "the right thing to do".

As an illustration of her estrangement, she says she wouldn't be joining the Conservative Party today if she was not currently involved in it.

"We hope that over time we will be able to develop a new political party," she states. She asks for those MPs who "share our values" to "come join us".

"This is about far more than just Brexit," she states, adding that "it's driven by the direction that the Conservative Party is heading in".

Labour, she adds, is being "driven to a really extreme fringe" and many of its MPs know "in their heart of hearts" that things can't be fixed in their party.

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Reacting to the press conference, former Tory chairman Grant Shapps says he is "really sad" about the decision his three former colleagues have taken.

He says he thinks the issue of Brexit is "completely separate", however, from the question of whether the Conservative Party reflects modern society.

"That's where I think their misjudgment lies," he tells BBC News.

These departures do not mean the party is no longer "moderate or modern", he says, adding that they have come to the "wrong conclusions".

Image source, PA

The three are asked what their personal messages are to the PM, now that they've resigned.

Dr Wollaston says "do not take us over the cliff" on Brexit and urges Theresa May to "reach out to the moderates" in the Conservative Party "or you'll lose those too".

They're asked how they're being affected by "entryism" into the party and how close other colleagues are to leaving.

Dr Wollaston says "you can just see for yourselves the very aggressive and very well funded social media campaign" against her and others, calling them "traitors" among other phrases.

She says there's been a "deluge" of "really threatening calls" made against them. "Our Associations are changing" and "quite clearly UKIP members" are joining the party.

Ms Soubry says that UKIP are encouraging Brexit supporters to join the Conservatives which she argues is a "blatant undermining of democracy".

Asked which other policies unite the eleven MPs, Ms Soubry cites the fight against domestic violence while Ms Allen adds "we're just normal people with values...people first, politicians second".

The MPs are asked if anyone tried to convince the three to stay in the party.

Heidi Allen says that one cabinet minister sent her a text last night to convince her to stay. Soubry and Wollaston say they received no messages from the leadership to ask them to stay.

They're asked if they regret decisions they made on votes over the past nine years.

Ms Soubry says "I believe we did the right thing", during the coalition government "in particular".

They're then asked what can be changed by having eleven independent MPs.

Ms Soubry says she hopes this will "concentrate the minds" of colleagues in the Conservative Party. She adds she hopes it will "give courage" to those in government "to be true to what they believe" by leaving government and voting against the party on Brexit.

Theresa May used her first speech as prime minister in July 2016 to vow to tackle the "burning injustices" that were affecting people throughout the UK.

She spoke about injustices faced by ethnic minorities, the poor, the working class, women, and young people.

As the Spectator's deputy political editor Katy Balls tweets, tackling those issues are still very much part of the Conservative defectors' agenda.

Responding to a question, Heidi Allen says she believes there is a "significant number" of MPs across all parties that are "keen" to join the new Independent Group.

"But everybody has to get there in their own time", she adds.

Responding to another question, Anna Soubry says the new group is aiming to "appeal to everybody", not just those who voted Remain in the 2016 referendum.

Image source, ITN

Anna Soubry tells reporters that "One Nation" Tories "know it's over" for them in the party - which she says is now "shaped" by the issue of Brexit.

She adds that Theresa May should have "reached out" over Brexit at start of her premiership.

The "majority" of local Conservative associations, she says, are now "being infiltrated" by a "nationally orchestrated entryism".

The result, she says, is a "purple Momentum" within the party.

House of Commons
Parliament

Anna Soubry adds however that her decision to quit is not just about about Brexit, but facing the "reality of British politics as it stands today".

"I'm not leaving the Conservative Party, it's left us", she adds.

She says the Tory MPs quitting their party today are "seizing the baton" held out to them yesterday by former Labour MP Chuka Umunna and his colleagues.

"In turn, we hold it out to fellow One Nation Conservatives and like-minded Lib Dems", she says, adding: "please, come and join us".

Former Conservative MP Anna Soubry says:

Image source, ITN

Anna Soubry says that the Conservative Party "has been very good to me" and she thanks those in the Tory party who have helped elect her.

"You don't leave a political party that you've called home for many years" without any thought, she says.

The "awkward squad" are now running the Conservative Party "from top to toe," she states.

She says that "sensible" Conservatives like Justine Greening are yet to receive a phone call from the prime minister over Brexit.

Image source, ITN

Former Conservative MP Dr Sarah Wollaston says that this breakaway group are prepared to put their "careers on the line" in order to try and prevent no-deal.

She says she wouldn't have joined the party when she did "if it had looked then as it does now".

"This is about more than Brexit," she adds.