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Liberal Democrats have voted to push for the renewal of the UK’s membership in the European Union, but only as “a longer-term goal” as the party used its annual conference to begin a post-rebranding process Brexit.
The party, which won just 11 seats in the December elections on a platform that included a pledge to rescind Brexit without a public vote if then-leader Jo Swinson became prime minister, has been looking for a way to reconcile its pro-European stance. with reality. of departure.
A first-hand motion on Europe at the party’s annual online-only conference this weekend focused primarily on efforts to fight a no-deal Brexit and guarantee the rights of EU citizens in the UK.
He also condemned the Boris Johnson government’s proposed internal markets bill, which includes a promise to violate international law by rewriting the Brexit exit agreement, as something that “destroys the reputation of the UK, feels a dangerous precedent and almost certainly precludes any possibility of a trade agreement with the EU or the US ”.
The motion, as initially presented, only said that the party would “keep all options open for the UK’s future relationship with the EU, including membership at an appropriate future date.”
However, several members, including some deputies, believed that this was too watered down a compromise, and it was amended before it was approved.
The agreed version says the party will “support a longer term goal of UK membership in the EU at an appropriate future date to be determined by political circumstances, subject to public consent, commercial and market conditions and acceptable negotiated terms. “
Another possible amendment, which was rejected, gave a stronger commitment to the “campaign to rejoin the EU after the end of the post-Brexit transition period.”
Christine Jardine, the Democratic MP who speaks on Brexit issues, said the party would “never turn its back on our pro-European values, because we are much better united than we could be alone.”
She said: “With our country already facing the biggest health and economic crisis in generations, it is unthinkable for the UK to come out of the transition period without a deal.
Boris Johnson must start putting the nation first, rather than sacrificing anything and everything in his ideological pursuit of Brexit. It’s about stopping the disaster of food shortages, medicine shortages and more. “
