Jo Swinson will tell her party’s conference that if she leads a majority government she will revoke Article 50 on day one. Credit: PA
Leaving the EU without a deal would be like “burning your house down”, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson will tell her party conference.
After recently announcing her party would revoke Article 50 if it won a majority in a general election, the East Dunbartonshire MP will close the four-day party conference by reiterating her pledge to stop Brexit.
Boris Johnson will take a bruising from Ms Swinson as she delivers the speech – which will attack what she calls the PM’s pursuit of a no-deal Brexit.
He’s vowed to take the UK out of the European Union by the October 31 deadline “do or die” and even previously hinted he could break the law to do so.
When asked if he’d request a Brexit extension Mr Johnson said he would rather be “dead in a ditch”.
But Ms Swinson is set to tell Lib Dem members on the Dorset coast that Mr Johnson’s spending on no-deal preparations is “sickening”.
“The truth is you can’t plan for no deal. Planning for no deal is like planning to burn your house down,” she is expected to say on Tuesday.
“You might have insurance, but you’re still going to lose all your stuff.”
It comes a day after she defended to ITV News Politics Editor Robert Peston her plan to revoke Article 50 – effectively stopping the Brexit process.
She said it would not be undemocratic stop Brexit if the party won a general election, because people will understand “very clearly” what the Lib Dems stand for.
Voters at the conference voted overwhelmingly to back her policy, but Lib Dem MP Sir Norman Lamb was among a few to condemn it.
Another to criticise the move was Greens co-leader Caroline Lucas, who told ITV News podcast Acting Prime Minister that promising to revoke Article 50 is “arrogant” and “self-indulgent”.
Speaking to ITV News Political Correspondent Paul Brand the MP for Brighton and Pavillion said the pledge to effectively cancel Brexit is “dangerous” and “imperils democracy”.
Ms Swinson also insisted to Peston that she is not the leader of a single issue party.
At the suggestion the party had morphed into the anti-Brexit Party – as opposed to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party – she said: “We are not a single issue party, we are a party with more than a century of liberal heritage.
“And we want to create an open, fair and inclusive society.”
Ms Swinson predicts Brexit would “hurt” the country’s economy – one of the core reasons the party this week agreed to adopt cancelling Britain’s EU exit if it wins power at the next election.
The former minister is preparing to say: “The first task is clear. We must stop Brexit.
“And we are crystal clear: a Liberal Democrat majority government will revoke Article 50 on day one because there is no Brexit that will be good for our country.
“Brexit will put lives at risk. Brexit will hurt our economy. This Brexiteer Government wants to pay for their ideology with other people’s jobs.”
Efezinox 