Ed Davey would only commit to re-joining the Single Market
The overwhelming majority of attendees at the Liberal Democrats’ autumn conference have indicated that they want the party to adopt a policy of re-joining the EU.
During a Q&A session with the party’s leader Ed Davey hosted by the journalist Carolyn Quinn, attendees were asked to raise their hand if they wanted the Lib Dem policy to be “we go back in the EU”. Across the auditorium, the vast majority of attendees raised their hands.
Quinn asked the audience that question after quizzing Davey about Britain’s relationship with Europe and the Single Market.
In response to Quinn’s initial question Davey said: “I’m afraid [Labour’s] approach is too timid. By ruling out Britain going back into the Single Market, I think they’re undermining that rapprochement.
“We said at the election that should not be ruled out, that should be part of the strategy and we stick by that. And I don’t think our economy and the trade deals we need to strike before we go back into the Single Market, I don’t think they’ll be as strong as they could be and need to be to get our economy and our country back on track.”
Following the show of hands in the audience, Quinn asked Davey whether it is “too difficult politically” to start to move the Lib Dems towards a position of supporting re-joining the EU.
In his reply, Davey still stopped short of arguing for the UK to re-join the EU. He told the conference: “I think the issue is you have to rebuild trust with our European friends.”
He went on to say: “I think we all agree the Conservatives have so damaged Britain’s relationship with the European that it’s going to take a little while to repair. And what we’ve done, as passionate pro-Europeans, is said how to do that. We’re the only party doing it.
“We’ve passed policy here at conference to talk about the four steps to doing that, including getting back in the Single Market as our objective – and we campaigned on that and we’ll continue to campaign on that.”
The contrast between the party’s formal position and the membership’s desires is nothing new. At last year’s Lib Dem Conference, Davey was heckled by a member over the party’s stance on Brexit and senior figures openly criticised the party’s position.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
Image credit: Garry Knight – Creative Commons
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