Sir Vince’s stance on Brexit is not so very liberal

In my greener days, I was a Liberal Democrat supporter. Growing up in a religiously conservative Bangladesh, with its heavily managed economy, instilled in me the importance of liberalism. Quite simply, when I moved to this country as a not especially political but certainly opinionated teenager, the other two options – the (then) socially conservative Tories and the (still) statist Labour Party – didn’t impress.

This historical dalliance makes it all the more difficult for me to stomach the Liberal Democrats’ continued undemocratic stance on Brexit and their narrow-minded attitude towards those who voted for it.

My encounter with Sir Vince Cable, the party’s leader, on last week’s Westminster Hour, was a painful reminder of how far apart we have drifted.

I have a great deal of respect for Sir Vince. Every time I have met or debated him he has been kind and thoughtful.

He is a far cry from the countless Twitter zealots I encounter – ironically often xenophobic and misogynistic in their attempt to deal a hard blow to a “racist” Brexiteer.

This is precisely why his absurd generalisation of Brexit voters as being “coloured by nostalgia for an imperial past” left an unpleasant taste in my mouth – coincidentally within hours of the Indian subcontinent celebrating the 70th anniversary of its independence from Britain.

Remainers – especially thoughtful Remainers such as Sir Vince – should have worked out by now that just as the Remain vote consisted of a disparate group of people with diverse motivations, so did the Leave camp.

It isn’t credible to claim that all of the over 17million Brexit voters were old (although when did it become acceptable to dismiss voters’ views because of their age?), inward-looking imperialists.

As the discerning Emma Barnett – formerly of this parish – pointed out during her Cable interview, 46 per cent of 25-49 year olds who voted in the referendum backed Leave.

So even the generational gap has been overplayed.

Equally, Brexit for a lot of us is the perfect opportunity to liberalise our institutions to open ourselves up to the world on our own terms, not dictated by Brussels.

By the European Commission’s own admission, 90 per cent of global economic growth in the next decade is expected to be generated outside Europe. It is crucial that we are free of the infamous EU bureaucracy, and outside its customs union, to properly explore those markets.

Our lopsided immigration policy, which favours European migration over the rest of the world, must be corrected too.

If we cannot find enough brain surgeons or nurses from within the UK then we should be free to fill those vacancies from the widest pool of candidates.

It shouldn’t matter whether they are from Pakistan or from Poland, provided the required standard is met. This vision is exactly the opposite of what Sir Vince would attribute to us.

We have become far too adept at creating straw men to deflect debate when we fear ourselves to be on the losing side.

It is not a good habit to get into and, with something as important as Brexit, we simply cannot afford to indulge in it. READ MORE at telegraph.co.uk/opinion To order prints or signed copies of any Telegraph cartoon, go to telegraph.co.uk/cartoonprints or call 0191 603 0178

Sometime in early summer, just after the disastrous election and the terrible Grenfell Tower fire, my wife issued an edict: she could no longer cope with the news and we should stop watching it on telly. Newsnight and Question Time were already banned because she said they made me “talk rubbish at bedtime”.

At first, I was concerned we would be overwhelmed by ignorance. For that reason, we still read the newspaper. But to my surprise, our broadcast detox has actually left us advantaged. I think much more like a consumer, more focused on day-to-day matters, relying on my own experience, reading, word-of-mouth or observation to form a view of what is going on in the world.

We are not alone. Increasing numbers of friends are doing something similar. This may be one reason why politicians and commentators who rely excessively on the likes of social media for their interaction with the world are constantly surprised by popular upsets, from the elections in 2015 and this year to Brexit and Donald Trump.

The problem is especially acute in the Conservative Party. Until relatively www.telegraph.co.uk/bobprints