SWINSON: We won’t do a deal with Labour CHUKA: Er, we might
Jo Swinson vowed never to put Jeremy Corbyn into No 10 as she launched the Liberal Democrat election campaign yesterday.
The party’s leader said she was ‘absolutely categorically ruling out’ forming a coalition with Labour.
But a split soon emerged when new Lib Dem MP Chuka Umunna appeared to open the door to working with his old party.
he said after the launch there would be no coalition with other parties as ‘currently configured’.
But he was quickly slapped down by Miss Swinson’s spokesman, who said the Lib Dems would not work with Labour or the Tories, no matter who led them.
Meanwhile, Labour leader Mr Corbyn failed to expressly rule out the Lib Dem policy of revoking Article 50 to stop Brexit as the price for a coalition. Asked if he would do so, the Labour leader said: ‘We are campaigning to win this election with a majority Labour government. We are not campaigning to form a coalition with anyone.’
Miss Swinson said at her campaign launch: ‘ on so many grounds, Jeremy Corbyn is not fit for the job of Prime Minister. on the biggest issue of the day, he has prevaricated and will not give a straight answer.
‘Even now if you ask him whether he is Remain or Leave he will not tell you how he would vote.
‘his plans for the economy would take us back to the 1970s. I believe he would be a threat to our national security.’ She said she was ‘absolutely certain’ she would do a better job as prime minister than Mr Corbyn or Boris Johnson.
Asked how she would bring the country together if she plans to disregard the 2016 Brexit vote, she said: ‘We are standing up for what we believe in, and being very honest and straightforward about that.’
She also claimed only a small shift in numbers would put the Lib Dems ahead in hundreds of seats.
But the party was yesterday accused of using misleading data to suggest it is ahead in certain areas.
The Guardian said it had used information from a company called Flavible, which has come under fire for using national poll data to project local results.