Farron leaves a clear field for Mrs May

WHEN Jeremy Corbyn published his Marxist blueprint for national ruin on Tuesday, he left an open goal for the Liberal Democrats to rebuild support lost by Nick Clegg and establish themselves as the responsible party of opposition.

Yesterday, Tim Farron eyed up the goalposts, tripped over his bootlaces – and fell flat on his face.

Leave aside the new Lib Dem leader’s latest contortions over abortion, which have left him looking as opportunistic as his predecessor. (If only he had stuck to his professed Christian beliefs, wouldn’t he have earned cheers from many, as well as the grudging respect of others who disagree with the church’s teaching?)

The truth is that the manifesto he unveiled yesterday barely attempts to address the public’s concerns. Still less is it a realistic programme for government.

Rather, its scores of pledges take the party back to its comfort zone on the cranky fringe of politics, safe from any risk of dirtying its hands with power. Among them are downright dangerous policies, such as legalising cannabis – despite mounting evidence of its link to psychosis and other mental illnesses – and allowing yet more criminals to escape jail.

Reflecting other Lib Dem obsessions, Mr Farron also pledges to legalise prostitution, challenge ‘gender stereotyping’ in schools, pass laws to protect hens and bees, ban diesel car sales and give the vote to schoolchildren of 16.

As for the party’s plans for the economy, these are as unrealistic as Mr Corbyn’s. Like him, the Lib Dems would splash around imaginary billions, to be funded by borrowing and raising taxes on businesses and… you guessed it… ‘the rich’. Oh, and £1billion is apparently to come from a tax on cannabis.

So far, so typical of past, head-in-theclouds Lib Dem manifestos. But what sets this one apart is its cynical – and deeply hypocritical – attempt to appeal to the 48 per cent who voted Remain.

This is the party, remember, that demanded an in/out referendum on the EU before the 2010 election, and repeated the call in 2015. Yet now we’ve had the vote, and the Lib Dems didn’t like the result, they’re demanding another!

Meanwhile, they pledge to stay in the single market and the customs union, protect free movement and continue our membership of a huge range of EU schemes and projects. In other words, to the Lib Dems, Brexit means Bremain.

If they think this is how to win votes next month, they surely misjudge the British people. Indeed, with polls showing resistance to Brexit crumbling, most former Remainers just want a government with the competence to negotiate the best deal for this country.

On the evidence of the Labour and Lib Dem manifestos, only one party answers that description. Over to you, Mrs May.