Jo Swinson has promised a £50 billion Remain bonus by cancelling Brexit and staying in the European Union.
Swinson told voters the Conservatives and Labour are “gambling with your future” over Brexit, as she launched the Liberal Democrat election manifesto on Wednesday.
Speaking at a launch event in a nightclub in London, Swinson presented the Lib Dems as the Remain alternative and pledged more spending on education, mental health and childcare if the party gets a controlling vote in the Commons.
Swinson said she was “unashamedly” committed to stopping Brexit as she vowed to use the £50 billion “Remain bonus” to fund her party’s spending commitments on infrastructure and education.
According to the party’s analysis, the extra £50 billion would be made available to the Treasury as a result of faster economic growth resulting from the UK’s continued membership of the European Union.
Speaking ahead of the manifesto launch, Swinson said: “This manifesto is a bold plan to build a brighter future for our country, and that starts with stopping Brexit.
“Labour and the Conservatives can’t offer the country a brighter future because they both want Brexit. We know that will be bad for our economy, bad for our NHS and bad for our environment.”
The party also set out their plans for tackling mental health by giving it the same priority as physical health, and committed to tackling knife deaths by investing in community policing in England and taking a “public health approach” to stopping violent crime.
The Dunbartonshire East MP has put herself at the centre of the Lib Dem campaign, presenting herself as a candidate for Prime Minister and marketing the Lib Dems heavily as the anti-Brexit party,
But the party has seen a slip in support since the start of the election campaign – down from 20 per cent to around 15 per cent – despite the strong anti-Brexit message with many attributing the loss to Swinson’s own unpopularity with voters and memories of her time as cabinet minister in the coalition when the Lib Dems propped up David Cameron’s Conservatives.
And Angela Rayner, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, slammed the Lib Dem plan. She said: “It is an austerity manifesto from a party that has clearly learned nothing from their disastrous spell in coalition with the Tories”.
She added: “Voting for the Lib Dems in this election is a wasted vote that will only open the door to a post-Brexit Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage alliance with Donald Trump to sell off our NHS.”
The SNP called on the Lib Dems to apologise for their decision to prop up the Conservative Government in the austerity years.
SNP candidate in Argyll & Bute, Brendan O’Hara said: “The Liberal Democrats can’t hide from their record in coalition with the Tories that has “scarred” communities across the country. The party will never be trusted in Scotland again.”
O’Hara said: “Everyone knows the Lib Dems can’t be trusted – a vote for the SNP at this election is a vote to reject austerity and escape the Brexit fiasco at Westminster.”
He added: “As much as the Lib Dems try, voters won’t have the wool pulled over their eyes. Jo Swinson was one of the most enthusiastic cheerleaders for the coalition government’s programme of austerity and welfare cuts that scarred working communities across Scotland. No wonder polling shows her popularity has plummeted as the campaign has progressed.”
