I listened to Jo Swinson's speech to the Liberal Democrats.

[Celerity]

1. Here's more proof why it's hard to trust Jo Swinson on anything

https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2019/09/16/heres-more-proof-why-its-hard-to-trust-jo-swinson-on-anything/

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson has pledged “to stop Brexit altogether”. But here’s more evidence showing why it’s hard to trust her on anything.

“What?!?

At party conference, the Liberal Democrats agreed to cancel Brexit if they get into power. Swinson said:

We will do all we can to fight for our place in Europe, and to stop Brexit altogether.

But if her voting record and refusal to work with Jeremy Corbyn wasn’t bad enough, a new video has emerged showing that Swinson previously backed a referendum on UK EU membership.

In 2008, Swinson said:

Link to tweet

The Liberal Democrats would like to have a referendum on the major issue of in or out of Europe.

As her voting record shows, Swinson did indeed vote for a referendum in 2008. And indeed, despite blaming David Cameron for the 2016 referendum, the Lib Dems supported this option while Nick Clegg was at the helm, who led the party between 2007-2015:

Link to tweet

The Lib Dems are deeply stained by austerity. Don’t trust them

With a new leader the party is enjoying a resurgence, but its support for the Tories in coalition can’t be forgotten so easily

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/23/lib-dems-stained-austerity-trust-tories



The Liberal Democrats are back, or so we’re told, with Jo Swinson’s leadership victory being pitched as the rebirth of the party. The unique conditions of Brexit have given the Lib Dems not only a reason to exist but the opportunity to detoxify their brand after their fatal coalition with the Conservatives, and to cast themselves as a reforming, progressive party in troubled times.

And yet remarkably little has changed since the days when Nick Clegg stood laughing in the Downing Street rose garden next to David Cameron as he signed Britain up to years of sweeping public spending cuts. When asked throughout this summer’s leadership campaign, Swinson (and her opponent, Ed Davey) consistently defended her party’s role in austerity measures. In an interview with Channel 4 News, Swinson said she had no regrets about the coalition, stating it was the right move “to get our country back on track”. This is despite the fact it has been shown that austerity shrunk the British economy by £100bn, and has even been linked to 130,000 preventable deaths. Swinson acknowledged “there were policies we let through [in coalition] that we shouldn’t have done”, naming the bedroom tax, but remained unrepentant on a whole host of others.

Instead, Swinson repeatedly claims credit for the Lib Dems being a moderating influence on the Tories. They may well have helped to rein in the Conservatives on some things (the party is said to have forced George Osborne to temporarily shelve child tax credit cuts) but this fundamentally misses the point: the Lib Dems weren’t coerced into the partnership, they voluntarily chose it, and as such were a reason every Tory cut that was passed was possible.

This isn’t about holding grudges or some sort of ideological purity. Political parties naturally evolve depending on the political times, and progress in policy positions should be credited. It was four years ago this week that the Labour party adopted its abysmal abstention strategy for key “welfare reform”, but the party has since wrestled internally to have the strong anti-austerity message it holds today, winning back support in the process.

The same cannot be said for the Lib Dems. This is a party that as recently as last year spoke of sacrificing some of the poorest people in society to benefit sanctions in exchange for a 5p tax on plastic bags while in coalition. Nor are their MPs against forming a pact with the Tories again, with Swinson simply ruling out joining forces with Boris Johnson or any Brexiteer.

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