Brexit LibDems struggle for a new message
Meeting for their annual conference in a seaside town that voted to leave the European Union, Britain’s Liberal Democrats are torn over their role as the country’s sole anti-Brexit political force. The party had expected to hoover up extra support from some of the 48 percent who voted to remain in the European Union in the June general election but ended up with only 12 MPs.
“It’s a double edged-sword,” member Clive Dellard, 61, said of the party’s Brexit stance outside the main conference hall in Bournemouth, south England. “You don’t want to become a one-issue party,” he said. Dellard joined the party last year to fight Britain’s departure from the EU, and the presence of many new similar members exposes the bind in which the party finds itself in maintaining relevance.
“I wasn’t a Lib Dem before, I joined because it was the only party that was going to push for Remain,” Jane Riekmann, 62, who was wearing an EU beret said on the sunny Bournemouth seafront. “I think it has become the purpose of the party now,” she added. The retired teacher said the message failed to resonate in the election due to the “British psyche of ‘right, this is done, let’s move on’” but argued that attitudes would shift “when we see the implications.” Conference voted to push for a referendum on the terms of Britain’s departure, which is expected to take place in March 2019.
“There was a lot of soul-searching about whether a second referendum is the right thing to do,” said Dellard, pointing out the risk of alienating voters in northern Leave constituencies that voted Leave. “The guy from Sunderland (northeast England) who spoke the other day said ‘I’m flogging a dead horse with this message’, I understand it must be difficult, we’ve got to somehow get that balance.” Chris Bailey, treasurer of the local party in Southend, southeast England, said that while the party was “languishing” in the national polls, membership in his town had gone up from 97 to 247, explaining “it’s Europe that has driven it.”
‘Just being awkward’
New party leader Vince Cable delivered his conference speech Tuesday, promising to “lead the fight against Brexit”, but warning that “we should not be consumed by Brexit to the exclusion of everything else”. But among the members roaming around the stalls-many of them wearing “Stop Brexit” badges-said they wanted the focus to be on EU membership. Political commentator Anand Menon, who was part of a conference panel on Brexit said that the party needed to decide whether to focus on winning new voters or satisfying the core of anti-Brexit supporters. “The line they are taking is not one that is easy to persuade waverers, the ‘oh my God it’s so stupid,’ is more likely to alienate people.”
He also believes that the focus on stopping Brexit was doomed to failure and could harm the party’s long-term future. “If your raison d’etre is to stop Brexit and then Brexit happens, what the hell is the point of you?” He advised focusing on core issues, a view echoed by 25-year-old Dipa Vaya, a member since 2013. “We need to focus a lot of inequality, and things like housing, young people, helping people prosper in their jobs, where we have a lot to say,” the young member told AFP over breakfast.
Outside the conference bubble in the town centre, friends of 50 years Wyn Jones, 80, and Terry Price, 77, highlighted the challenge faced in changing the minds of Brexit supporters. Bournemouth voted 54 percent in favor of leaving the EU, higher than the national average. “They are just being awkward, they can sit there and spout off about everything, but they are never gong to get in government, so they can say what they want,” said Brexiteer Price. “They are going against what the population voted for.” — AFP