Time for Labour and Conservative remainers to vote Liberal Democrat -old
On the saturday after the General Election was called, I was knocking on doors in Bishop's Stortford. The proportion of people promising to vote Liberal Democrat had jumped. People who normally vote either Conservative or Labour were saying they would vote Liberal Democrat because of Brexit.
We've Nigel Farage saying that the collapse of UKIP support is because the Tories have taken on their policies -- from Hard Brexit to the creation of grammar schools. We've seen very strident language towards the EU from Theresa May's
government, which spins well with supporters of Brexit, but is the opposite of what is needed to negotiate something positive.
We've seen Donald Tusk saying that protecting the rights citizens of other EU nations in the UK and of the UK in the rest of the EU has to come first because these are the people who could lose out most if things went wrong -- putting the focus squarely on the real needs of people rather than political pressures.
This is not about ignoring the referendum. In fact, it is horrifying to see how little notice the government seems to be taking of the dis-satisfaction and sense of exclusion that led people to vote Leave. We need to engage with that properly, recognising that a hard Brexit would make the situation much worse.
This is the time to appeal to both Conservative and Labour voters who are concerned by Brexit to vote Liberal Democrat. More Liberal Democrat MPs gives more scope for us to have an effect.
But this time around, every vote counts. The more votes the Liberal Democrats have the more exposure we get, enabling our voice to be heard more often in things like Question Time.
A strong Liberal Democrat vote will put pressure on pro-EU Conservatives, so that we affect the outcome of Brexit even if we don't win.
To find out more about Liberal Democrat policy on Europe visit http://www.libdems.org.uk/europe
Alternatively, sign our petitions to:
- Keep the Britain in the single market
- Protect the right of EU nationals to remain in the UK