31 May 2019 | UK NEWS
Both entrants in the Liberal Democrat leadership contest, Jo Swinson and Sir Ed Davey, who announced their candidacy yesterday, have ruled out entering into a coalition with either the Labour Party or the Conservative Party.
Both MPs have said they consider Jeremy Corbyn to be “a Brexiteer”, along with Boris Johnson, who they appear to assume will take up the leadership of the Conservative Party this year. Sir Ed added that a condition for the Lib Dems agreeing to work with any other party would have to be a commitment to “stopping Brexit”. He further noted “tackling the climate emergency” as another key requirement for earning the party’s favour.
In Conservative Party leadership contest developments, Rory Stewart has vowed to “argue heart and soul” against Scottish independence, saying that both Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon had said the 2014 referendum would be “a once-in-a-generation vote”. Mr Stewart also pointed out that he himself is Scottish, but is representing an English constituency.
On that score, he added: “If the United Kingdom splits, then what am I? What am I representing?”
Mr Stewart has also advocated the route of a Citizens’ Assembly consisting of 99 people to hear evidence and then make a recommendation to Parliament as “the only route through” on Brexit, as an alternative to a second or confirmatory referendum. Speaking of his fellow contestants, Mr Stewart further said: “They’re very distinguished colleagues, but they’re not going to win an election. That’s all it comes down to.”
Elsewhere in today’s political news, The Guardian reports that Mark Harper has become the latest Tory MP to throw his hat into the ring for the party leadership.
The Daily Mail carries a story reporting that Len McCluskey has advised Jeremy Corbyn it would be “electoral suicide” to back a second referendum, saying that copying the Lib Dems’ strategy on Brexit would only “pump poison” into British politics.
