Politics

Boris Johnson is damaging Britain, while Corbyn betrays Labour values | Jo Swinson


Gillian Marshall from Newtown in Wales is an epilepsy patient. She takes three different medications to manage her epilepsy – even changing the brand of one of these medications has seen Gillian admitted to hospital in the past.

The Yellowhammer papers recently published reported that crashing out of the European Union will lead to medicine shortages, meaning Gillian may not have access to these vital medicines.

Boris Johnson’s hardline Brexit government is pursuing a policy that would put Gillian’s health, and that of many others, at risk. It is pursuing a policy that will lead to food and fuel shortages, with the poorest in our country set to suffer the most from rising prices. And his utter disrespect for the Good Friday Agreement is threatening peace on the island of Ireland – not that he’s bothered to meet any of the border communities.

This government has no mandate for putting our country in such grave danger. The Conservative manifesto for the 2017 general election clearly said that every effort would be made to get a deal.

All this pain and damage for what? So that Johnson gets to play at prime minister. Because that’s what this is to him. A game. Because neither he nor any of the ministers around his cabinet table will be there when Gillian can’t renew her prescription, or when redundancy notices are handed out and mortgage repayments missed.

In his first four days in parliament, Johnson lost six votes, two senior ministers and 21 MPs. He likes to play the strongman, demeaning our police force by using them as a backdrop for his political games, but he is really making a habit of losing. Boris Johnson is running scared – being held to account by the people’s representatives doesn’t suit him, so he decided to shut down our democracy and threatened to disobey the rule of law. Boris Johnson is not fit to be prime minister.

Nor is Jeremy Corbyn.

This is a man who, faced with the biggest challenge our country has seen in generations, literally can’t decide which side to take. Labour’s position is now that they will negotiate a Brexit deal with the EU, put it to a referendum and then maybe campaign against it. It is less having your cake and eating it, and more having your cake and throwing it in the bin.

Brexit has truly sent the Labour party into political meltdown. When asked in an interview last week whether she would rather go into coalition with the Liberal Democrats or the Brexit Party, Labour MP Emma Lewell-Buck said that she would put Nigel Farage into government. A man who stood in front of that famous Breaking Point poster and stokes hatred and division on a daily basis is now the preferred partner of government for a Labour MP, such is their commitment to delivering Brexit.

It has been sad to watch the path Labour has taken. The party has betrayed the values it has stood for for decades. It is no surprise that former Labour MPs like Chuka Umunna and Luciana Berger, appalled at the inability to tackle antisemitism and Labour’s betrayal of its pro-European values, have decided to join the Liberal Democrats. They recognise, as do the thousands of others who are joining, that we are now the only party fighting for the values of diversity and inclusion that Labour and the Conservatives have abandoned.

The Liberal Democrats are the strongest Remain party in the UK, and we continue to grow, adding members, councillors and MPs. When a general election comes, we will be ready for it and ready to take our clear, pro-European message to the country. We want to stop Brexit, and if the Liberal Democrats win the general election then we will revoke article 50.

Our country deserves better than Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson. The Liberal Democrats are the positive, hopeful alternative that the country needs.



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