LibDem London mayoral contender Siobhan Benita has made a last ditch appeal to Londoners to vote tactically to stop Brexit. She urged Tory and Labour voters in the capital to lend their votes to the LibDems in a raft of constituencies where she said they were the only party capable of beating the Tory candidate.

Writing in The New European on the eve of an historic election, the woman running to be Mayor of London said: “It’s crunch time. After more than three years of persuading, petitioning and protesting, of parliamentary proceedings, prorogations and prosecutions, we’ve reached the moment of truth. Your future, my future, everyone’s future is at stake. We have so little time left to stop Brexit – but you can.”

She said the thought of waking up on Friday to a majority Conservative Government was “horrifying” and events would move quickly after the election: “Even before we sit down to Christmas lunch, a jubilant Boris Johnson could have set us all on his reckless path to leaving the EU.”

She warned that leaving the EU at the end of January would not mean that Brexit was done: “Far from it. It will be the start of years of more uncertainty, more wrangling and more internal Tory Party feuding in pursuit of a fantasy deal. All the while urgent issues, like tackling the climate emergency, improving public services and lifting people out of poverty, will continue to be neglected.”

Benita told Londoners that they had the power to stop “this calamity”. She said: “You have the power to change the course of history, to deny Boris Johnson the majority he needs, wipe the smirk of Nigel Farage’s face and keep Donald Trump’s greedy hands off our NHS. You have the power to stop Brexit.”

She urged voters to back the Liberal Democrats in seats in and around the capital where they were the only party who could beat the Tories. Seats like Wimbledon, Finchley & Golders Green, Cities of London & Westminster, Kensington, Chelsea & Fulham, Richmond Park, Carshalton & Wallington and Esher & Walton.

She said: “Tactical voting for Liberal Democrat candidates in these constituencies will mean fewer hard-Brexit Tory MPs in the next Parliament. With your help, the LibDems can block their Tory rivals in these London constituencies. Remember, every single Conservative candidate in this election – regardless of how they voted in the past – has now signed up to Boris Johnson’s damaging deal as well as the possibility of us crashing out with no deal at all.”

She said in some seats “tactical voting for Labour may also seem the right thing to do to deny Boris Johnson the majority he needs to push through his calamitous deal.”

She said the best chance of securing a People’s Vote and stopping Brexit was a hung parliament “and for that we need to elect as many Liberal Democrat MPs as possible”.

And she made this plea: “Whether you’ve voted Lib Dem before or not, whether you’re a Tory voter or a Labour voter at heart, I’m asking you, urging you: please, where it makes absolute sense to do so, lend us your vote on Thursday so that we can stop Brexit. Don’t let Boris Johnson wreck your Christmas. More than that, don’t let Boris Johnson steal your future.”