Swinson’s great LD gamble – making cancelling Brexit party policy

Swinson’s great LD gamble – making cancelling Brexit party policy

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Inevitably this new policy agreed to at the party conference in Bournemouth today is going to be attacked for being anti-democratic. The big question is how will it impact electoraly assuming there’s an early general election?

Even the only Green MP, Caroline Lucas, who you would have thought to be an ally, has Tweeted her concerns about it.

The criticism is based on the premise that the result on June 23rd 2016 was in fact democratic and there are reasons for questioning that. In any case the referendum itself was only advisory.

Really this is all about branding and the Lib Dems have prospered in the last few months by being unambiguously the party of Remain.

My guess is that this will have been researched at some length and the decision has been taken to take the risk and go with it. The fact that we are nearly three and a half years on from the referendum and ministers are still trying to work out how this will happen reinforces the point about having a simple straightforward position.

Assuming that we do indeed leave on October 31st then this policy platform is a good basis for campaigning to rejoin.

This policy platform will also make any LAB position on Brexit appear equivocal. It also gets Swinson and the party noticed.

Mike Smithson


 

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