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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Politics
Tom Peck

More than half of voters do not know who Tim Farron is

52 per cent of voters do not know who the Liberal Democrat leader is, according to a new poll.

The damning verdict in the most recent survey from pollsters Opinium is arguably good news for Tim Farron, the leader of the Liberal Democrats. At the start of the election campaign several polls suggested only a third of the population knew who he was.

12 per cent of people polled also couldn’t name Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party. It also found that almost 20 per cent of people in Britain do not know that Theresa May is the leader of the Conservative Party.

Arguably Mr Farron’s most notable moment of the campaign so far was being confronted by an angry Brexit-voting pensioner in Kidlington, West Oxfordshire.

The Liberal Democrats have campaigned on an avowedly pro-EU platform, quite literally. Mr Farron launched the Liberal Democrat Manifesto on a stage carpeted with the EU flag. But the Liberal Democrats promise of a second referendum on any Brexit deal have not managed to raise their fortunes in the polls to above 10 per cent.

The poll followed Mr Farron’s comments saying that the Manchester Arena bombing should not be “politicised” for election gain.

“This is not a time for us to be pointing the finger,” he said.

“It is very tempting, isn’t it, for politicians to try and score points and to make some political capital, and it’s important to resist that temptation.”

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