A senior Liberal Democrat MP has reiterated the party’s commitment to holding a second referendum on Brexit amid an apparent split over the issue, saying the government has no mandate for whatever deal is eventually decided on.
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While this view was backed by the former party leader Nick Clegg on Monday, another senior Lib Dem, Vince Cable, warned that such a move would be disrespectful to voters.
In his speech at the close of the party’s autumn conference in Brighton, Mr Farron will back health spokesperson Norman Lamb’s proposal for a dedicated tax to plug the NHS funding gap.
Labour’s Liz Kendall said: “The NHS and social care face huge challenges – bigger now than at any point in our history. staff and the families who need care to somehow try and struggle through”.
“The Lib Dems’ promises are worthless”.
Speaking to Press Association at Lib Dem conference this week, the leader was asked if he understood why his responses had caused concern. “It’s not civilised to let people slip through the net”.
Explaining how he had met Brexit voters in his home city of Preston in a bid to understand why they voted against the EU, Mr Farron will say: ‘They weren’t mostly die-hards.
“I want to end the current system of SATS in primary schools that are a distraction from the real education that professional teachers want to give their children; that weigh heavy on children as young as six and add nothing to the breadth of their learning”.
‘If you base your political strategy on divide and rule, do not be surprised if the people you have divided decide to give you a kicking, ‘ Mr Farron will say as he attacks Mr Osborne today.
But he said his party will continue to push for a “democratic” second referendum on the Brexit deal, which the party would reject. “But more grammar schools are not the answer”, he will say.
Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, also bears some responsibility.
On Monday party members endorsed a proposal for a referendum on the terms of the final Brexit deal negotiated by the government, with the option of remaining in the EU. “What they want is a clear voice that will hold the Conservative Government to account”, Mr Farron told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show.
Only his party can prevent a 25-year-long Conservative “stranglehold over government”, he insisted in his keynote speech to the Liberal Democrat conference.
“We trusted the British people on departure in the referendum last June, we should now trust them with destination”. When Theresa May does agree a deal with the European Union, we want the people to decide.
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At the last General Election in 2015, three of the four Lib Dem MPs in the Anglia region lost their seats.
