Jo Swinson: Youthful new Lib Dems leader to lead anti-Brexit fight

Jo Swinson, the new Liberal Democrat leader, is something of a veteran in the party, even in parliament, despite not turning 40 before next year.

The party's deputy leader and foreign affairs spokeswoman was just 25 when, in 2005, she took her home seat of East Dunbartonshire, becoming not just the "baby of the House" – the unofficial title for the youngest MP – but also the first Westminster representative born in the 1980s.

She served as a junior minister in the coalition government and was a prominent party member until she – along with many other Lib Dems – lost her seat after the party’s near-wipeout in the 2015 general election.

She returned in 2017’s snap election and has become one of the party’s most visible figures, long considered the natural heir to Vince Cable.

Boris and the backstop: why the Irish Border is back centre stage

---

Tories in open revolt as Boris Johnson set to become leader

---

Jo Swinson elected new leader of Liberal Democrats

---

Swinson has been vocal on a number of issues, including the Lib Dems’ record in coalition with the Conservatives.

In September she said the party must "own the failures" of the coalition, citing the "hostile environment", the bedroom tax and NHS changes as policies she particularly regretted.

Swinson said the party had been complicit in inflicting too high a price on the poorest to cut the deficit. “I’m proud of what we achieved, but I’m not naive or blinkered about it,” she told the Lib Dem conference.

“If we are to claim the successes of our time in government, we need to own the failures of it too. We lost too many arguments. When they fought dirty, we were too nice.”

She has also pushed for a strongly anti-Brexit stance, which has helped the Lib Dems reach their best poll ratings since 2010.

In announcing her leadership bid Swinson called on remain voters from other parties to make the Lib Dems their permanent home. An emergency election this autumn would give the Lib Dems a good opportunity to mop up swathes of disillusioned remainers.

A mother of two young children, Swinson was inadvertently at the centre of a row last year when it emerged the Conservatives had broken a “pairing” agreement with her while she was on maternity leave to try to swing a crucial Brexit vote.

The backlash helped push forward new plans for proxy voting by MPs.

Corbyn criticism

On Tuesday, Swinson again ruled out working with Jeremy Corbyn, branding him a Brexiter who cannot be trusted to fight for a second referendum to keep the UK in the EU.

She said her door was open to MPs from other parties who wanted to work towards a second referendum.

But she said the Lib Dems could not join a pact with Labour while Corbyn was leader, even in the event of a hung parliament.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Swinson was scathing about Labour’s Brexit approach, even though the party has now said it would support a referendum on any deal put forward.

“There is nothing to suggest Jeremy Corbyn can be trusted on Brexit or that he will campaign to remain. Let’s remember in the last referendum he went on holiday for two weeks in the middle of it. Forgive me for not believing Jeremy Corbyn’s newly mouthed words on Brexit. He can barely bring himself to say the words people’s vote,” she said.

“I’m not supporting Jeremy Corbyn. If we are to have an election I would fight as Lib Dem leader as the party of remain that hasn’t equivocated on this like Jeremy Corbyn.

“There are plenty of people in the Labour party that I can work with, that I do work with. But Jeremy Corbyn is a Brexiteer. He cannot be trusted on Brexit. That is abundantly clear.

“And to boot he is somebody that is failing to deal with the scourge of antisemitism in his own party.”

Swinson said she was talking to some Conservative MPs about the possibility of defecting to her party after recruiting Chuka Umunna from Labour and Heidi Allen from the Tories via the Independent group. “Our door is absolutely open to people who share our values,” she said. – Guardian