Former Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable took a swipe at Sir Ed Davey over the party’s reluctance to talk about Brexit.<\/p>\n
Sir Vince insisted the Liberal Democrats need to be vocal about their pro-EU credentials as he joked about the focus on sewage.<\/p>\n
Pollster Professor Sir John Curtice yesterday told a fringe event at the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth that the party is losing voters who would like to rejoin the EU to Labour.<\/p>\n
But speaking at a fringe event this afternoon, Sir Vince said: “I think John Curtice is actually wrong.<\/p>\n
“I think people are going back to the Labour Party partly because the Government’s so awful, partly because of Corbyn.<\/p>\n
“I doubt that our position and the Labour Party position on Brexit, which I suspect very few people understand, has been a motivating factor.<\/p>\n
“I do think we need to talk about Europe. I really don’t think it’s sensible to say because the public aren’t talking about Brexit, we mustn’t talk about it.”<\/p>\n
Sir Vince then prompted laugher from the audience as he added: “I know I’m supposed to be talking about sewage rather than Brexit.”<\/p>\n
He went on: “We must talk about, we must make clear we’re a European party, that we identify with the European project, that we have a route map to get to the single market and customs union and we should talk about that and be proud of it and not try to conceal it.”<\/p>\n
His comments come after Sir Ed repeatedly refused to say whether the party wants to rejoin the EU in a BBC interview earlier.<\/p>\n
The UK’s exit from the EU was once the party’s defining issue but it returned just 11 MPs at the last general election on a pledge to “stop” Brexit.<\/p>\n
Since Sir Ed took over as leader in 2019 the Lib Dems have focused on other areas such as sewage being dumped into rivers.<\/p>\n
The party has proposed a four-stage road map to “rebuild” the UK’s relationship with the EU, which would eventually aim to return to the single market.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Labour has been more vocal on the issue in recent weeks, pledging to rewrite the Brexit trade deal.<\/p>\n
A Lib Dem spokesman said: “Vince always brings an interesting perspective, but we remain focused on the issues that matter most to the public, including the NHS, cost of living and sewage.”<\/p>\n
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