Farron said the Liberal Democrats, who campaigned to remain in the European Union, have a “duty” to establish themselves as the leading alternative to May’s government because the main opposition Labour Party is too riven by infighting and hobbled by ideology to be effective.
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“Recounting the tale during his rally speech at the party’s autumn conference in Brighton, he said: “(The album) is deservedly considered a classic, but it’s a bit sweary”.
Farron said that uncertainty since June’s referendum, compounded by the likelihood of departure from the Single Market meant the Lib Dems have become “the free market, free trade, pro-business party” due to their avowedly pro-EU stance.
He said: “Theresa May did so little in the Remain campaign that she actually made it look like Jeremy Corbyn pulled a shift”.
Mr Farron said: “My message to any business in this country – large or small – is if you are backing today’s Conservative Party, you are funding your own funeral”.
Antony says there’s “a lot of synergy” between the Lib Dems and elements of the Labour Party and the “left wing” of the Conservative Party, but he suggests people are put off from joining because they don’t want to “sit in opposition” or “struggle to get elected”.
“Tony Blair’s government gave us the National Minimum Wage”.
“A sensible electoral system would be much more the answer so that we could work together”, he adds, rather than damaging each other’s vote in the first-past-the-post system where the victor takes all.
Tim Farron will tell the Liberal Democrat conference that the party would rebrand the NHS to include a fully taxpayer-funded care service, warning that governments must be honest about raising taxes to ease the healthcare crisis. “I kind of see Blair the way I see the Stone Roses: I preferred the early work”. “Three months on, it isn’t good enough to have brainstorming sessions at Chequers while investment and jobs steadily bleed away”.
Liberal Democrat members also voted for nine priorities for Brexit negotiations, including securing Britain’s membership of the single market, and calling for MPs to have a vote on the government’s negotiating mandate before Article 50 is triggered.
In his speech Farron repeated his calls for another referendum on “the as-yet-unknown Brexit deal”. One non-Tory candidate with one cause: “the people must have a say on Brexit deal”.
“If we trusted the people to vote for our departure, then we must trust the people to vote for our destination”, he was due to add.
“Because I am proud of who we are – always a sanctuary for the desperate, the abused, and the persecuted”.
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Sir Vince Cable, the former business secretary, has said this week: “We should never have had the referendum in the first place, but the public have voted and I do think it’s seriously disrespectful and politically utterly counter-productive to say ‘Sorry guys, you got it wrong – let’s try again”. I ask her how long she’s been a member, and she pauses to think.
