Former Belgian Prime Minister Mr Verhofstadt is MEP for Dutch-speaking-Belgium and the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament. He was speaking at the Liberal Democrat’s autumn conference in Bournemouth. Mr Verhofstadt said: “We cannot continue to be friends with a Europe that is always acting too little and too late.
“In the world order of tomorrow, the world order of tomorrow is not a world order based on nation states or countries, it’s a world order that is based on Empires, China is not a nation, it’s a civilisation.
“India, you know it better than I do, is not a nation, there are two thousands nations in India, there are twenty different languages that are used there, there are four big religions at the same time.”
India’s 2001 census recorded 29 languages with more than one million native speakers and its 2011 census recorded five regions with more than five million inhabitance.
Mr Verhofstadt continued: “It is the biggest democracy worldwide.
“The US is also an Empire, more than a nation, maybe tomorrow they will speak more Spanish than English, I don’t know what will happen.”
This remark was met with laughter from some members of the audience.
He then added: “And then finally, the Russian Federation, the world of tomorrow is a world of Empires, in which we Europeans and you British can only defend your interests, your way of life by doing it together in a European framework and a European Union.”
This was met with raucous applause from the audience.
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She received criticism after admitting she would not respect the result if a second referendum came out in favour of Brexit again.
She has since told the BBC: “The Liberal Democrats are crystal clear – we want to stop Brexit.
“If a Liberal Democrat majority government is elected, then we should revoke Article 50 and I think it’s about being straightforward and honest with the British public about that.”
Ms Swinson has ruled out being part of any coalition with either the Tories or Labour.
She rejects the belief that either Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn is fit to be Prime Minister.
With the Liberal Democrats being formed in 1988 out of a merger of the Liberal Party and Social Democrat Party that broke away from Labour, no Liberal Democrat has ever been Prime Minister, though Nick Clegg was Deputy Prime Minister in the 2010-15 coalition.
David Lloyd George was the last Liberal Prime Minister and he left office in 1922.
H.H. Asquith who opposed the Government of Mr Lloyd George and his successor Tory Andrew Bonar Law was the most recent Liberal Leader of the Opposition.
At the European elections in May whilst Mr Cable was still party leader, the Liberal Democrats won 16 seats, an increase of 15 with 19.6 percent of the vote, second only to the Brexit Party.
