Swinson denies trying to ‘fiddle’ Brexit by giving 16-year-olds vote

Lib Dem leader says sorry for coalition cuts and refuses to back Corbyn deal during BBC interview

JO SWINSON last night suggested holding a second referendum in which 16-year-olds could vote, as she was forced to deny trying to “fiddle” Brexit to get the result she wanted.

In an interview with Andrew Neil on BBC One, the Liberal Democrat leader apologised four times for voting for cuts during the coalition government and admitted she regretted austerity.

Neil accused her of trying to “fiddle the franchise” by supporting votes at 16, and suggested Leave supporters would see the plan as a choice between not leaving the EU and a deal that was a “version of Remain”.

“I’ve always supported votes at 16,” Ms Swinson said.

“That’s not a new position, and indeed we have votes at 16 in Scotland for local elections, for Scottish Parliament elections, for the independence referendum.” She added: “That generation are going to be the most affected by the decision on leaving the European Union or not.”

Asked whether she would support a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn, Ms Swinson said neither Mr Corbyn nor Mr Johnson was “fit to be prime minister”, but “there’s no guarantee that they’re still going to be the ones that are leading their parties a week afterwards”.

Raising questions about whether the Lib Dems would demand a Labour leadership contest as the price of their support in a coalition, Ms Swinson said Neil had “put Jeremy Corbyn on the spot about his actions on anti-semitism” in last week’s interview.

Ms Swinson was herself questioned by the broadcaster on four policies she would abolish that she voted for when serving as an employment minister under David Cameron from 2012-15.

She apologised for supporting the bedroom tax, a benefits cap and policies to privatise the NHS and close Sure Start centres, as well as admitting “too much was cut” under George Osborne.

“Some cuts were necessary but the shape of those cuts and certainly the balance between cuts and tax rises I don’t think was the right balance,” Ms Swinson said.

“I think we should have been raising more from taxation and that’s something which we argued for.”

A poll in The Daily Telegraph shows her party on just 12 per cent of the vote, but Ms Swinson said Nigel Farage’s decision to stand down more than half of his candidates had cost her the chance of winning next week’s election.

A “deal that was stitched up between Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson has been significant in how this election has gone,” she said, admitting it was “not likely” that she would become the next prime minister.

Mr Farage stood aside his candidates in Tory-held Lib Dem marginals to increase the chance of a Conservative victory, in the hope that Mr Johnson would allow the Brexit Party to run unchallenged in Labour heartlands.

“At the beginning of this campaign and over the summer we had four parties all around 20 per cent in the polls, which in a first past the post voting system creates a huge amount of volatility and uncertainty,” Ms Swinson said.

“I’m proud of the campaign that we’ve been fighting,” she added, insisting she would not stand down even if her party performed poorly next week.

Earlier yesterday, she was forced to defend her party for sending campaign leaflets disguised as local newspapers to voters in marginal seats, featuring sympathetic coverage of their policies and polls that suggested the party was Labour’s main challenger.

Ian Murray, the executive director of the Society of Editors, which represents national and regional newspaper editors, said the newspapers were an attempt to “deliberately mislead” voters, and eroded trust in the media.

“The public are not fooled for long and will not forgive politicians who attempt to take them for mugs,” he said.

Ms Swinson defended the leaflets and said while all parties had sent fake newspapers during the 20 years she had been campaigning, voters could distinguish between legitimate and fake news sources.

“It’s pretty clear where these pieces of literature are coming from,” she said.