True (blue) colours: Lib Dems betray their voters by supporting “no deal” Brexit

Brexiteers-in-chief: Jo Swinson and Boris Johnson. And you all thought Ms Swinson would do anything to keep the UK in the EU.

So he should be. This is what happens when you elect a Tory-supporting quisling to be leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has written a letter to the leaders of opposition parties including the SNP, Lib Dems, and Plaid Cymru, along with prominent Conservatives who oppose Boris Johnson’s “no-deal” Brexit.

In it, he proposes that they support his plan for an early vote of “no confidence” in September, allowing him to set up a short-term government to block Brexit under the terms preferred by Mr Johnson and call a general election.

And the Liberal Democrats under Jo Swinson have rejected it, for unsupportable reasons. This is a betrayal of everybody who voted for them in the belief that they oppose Brexit.

Here’s Mr Corbyn’s letter:

And here’s the Liberal Democrat reply, as given by Chuka Umunna on the BBC’s Newsnight. I doubt anyone would disagree with Liam Young’s comment now:

“And there you have it from the chameleons mouth,” wrote Rachael Swindon on Twitter. “The Lib Dims would rather a Boris Johnson No Deal Brexit and a hard-right Government than a temporary Corbyn-led Government to seek an extension to Article 50 and a general election. Unforgivable.”

She later added: “I know we used to laugh about the Lib Dims preferring a No Deal Brexit and a Johnson Government to a Corbyn-led Government. Surely they’re not *that* silly? Tonight, live on Newsnight, the Lib Dims just died.”

Mr Umunna, of course, has a vested interest in putting off any general election; he would instantly lose his seat in the House of Commons to a Labour candidate.

Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson, who supported the Tories throughout the Coalition government and seems determined to support them now, is quoted by Politics Home as saying: “Jeremy Corbyn is not the person who is going to be able to build an even temporary majority in the House of Commons for this task – I would expect there are people in his own party and indeed the necessary Conservative backbenchers who would be unwilling to support him. It is a nonsense.”

Ms Swinson added: “This letter is just more red lines that are about him and his position and is not a serious attempt to find the right solution and build a consensus to stop a no-deal Brexit.”

This is building castles in the air. Ms Swinson does not know the way the Commons’ 639 (voting) MPs will go, of a “no confidence” vote is put before them. She is simply trying to protect Boris Johnson.

Labour MP Emma Hardy put it succinctly: “Lib Dems siding with the Tories instead of Labour. Same old, same old. Yellow Tories.”

The SNP has been much more pragmatic. Consider its response, also on Newsnight:

Here are the simple facts:

And this is the dilemma for people like the Lib Dems (and the Change UK mob, whatever they’re calling themselves now):

Yes indeed – and the Lib Dems’ priorities will be plain to see, as a result of Mr Corbyn’s letter:

As Owen Jones stated: “Labour won 40% of the vote two years ago, nearly the same vote share as the government; its leader is twice elected. A temporary government should be led by the politician with the biggest democratic mandate. Do you oppose Corbyn as PM more than No Deal? Really?”

It should be worth reminding you that, if a “no deal” Brexit happens, the next thing Mr Johnson will do is sell off the NHS and abandon your rights as workers and as human beings, along with your consumer rights and environmental protections, in a trade deal with the United States that won’t bring any improvement to the UK economy for 15 long years, if at all. That is what Jo Swinson, Chuka Umunna and the other Liberal DemocRats are supporting.

Do you support that?

If not, you’d better do something about it.

I would suggest contacting your MP at your earliest opportunity and telling them you want them to support Mr Corbyn’s proposal – in the national interest.

You may need to contact them more than once as some MPs may be reluctant to change their own position. Make it clear that this is a matter on which they may lose their job in the future, if they don’t do the right thing.

Or would you rather sit this one out and let your country drift further into fascism?

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/


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6 thoughts on “True (blue) colours: Lib Dems betray their voters by supporting “no deal” Brexit

  1. Chris O'Donovan

    One other consideration, if the LD’s and Remain Tories are forced to climb down and back JC, then one of their spurious arguments also fails when JC calls the GE, namely, that JC can’t be trusted. This will put him in a very strong position in the eyes of the electorate with the LD’s exposed as opportunists who themselves can’t be trusted.

  2. Zippi

    “Ms Swinson does not know the way the Commons’ 639 (voting) MPs will go…” Surely, this is the point. NOBODY knows what the future holds yet, everybody is pushing their idea onto others, based on their personal fears, or ambitions. I’m truly sick of the lot of them and I, like many others, would prefer a general election with the caveat that no sitting politician can stand. They’re all so busy fighting amongst themselves and scheming, in order to unseat each other, that they seem to have forgotten why they are there. It is all about them, when it should be about us. I am sick, to my back teeth, of M.P.s not listening and making up their own minds about why people voted and ignoring us. What good would a general election be, if the same, self-serving, cloth-eared politicians stand for re-election? What choice is that and what will change?

  3. kateuk

    Unfortunately it will do me no good at all to contact my MP as he is the odious “no deal at any cost” Ben Bradley. I would love us to have a GE and hopefully kick out Ben Bradley and get a Labour MP for Mansfeild.

  4. Barry

    Odd as the limp dumps only want to reverse democracy and make us vote again that anyone would think she supports wto deal exit.

  5. Gary

    A good article but a terrible headline. Either you’re going for clickbait or you’re simply trying a hatchet job on the LibDems for those too lazy to read the article.

    Either way, it’s beneath you. This is the kind of thing The Daily Mail do.

    You could remove the word “Support” and replace with the word ‘Enable’ thus the headline would match the article and be truthful.

    Please don’t be in the same group as The Daily Mail and let your article speak for itself…

    1. Mike Sivier Post author

      I stand by my headline. This is a clear-cut issue. If they don’t support Jeremy Corbyn’s plan, they’re supporting “no deal” Brexit. Simple as that.

Comments are closed.