General election 2019: Vote could deliver ‘seismic change’ – Swinson

The general election could be “a moment for seismic change”, when “a new and different politics” emerges, Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has said.

In a speech at the party’s campaign launch, she said she could do “a better job” than either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister.

In response, the Conservatives said a vote for the Lib Dems “risks putting” Mr Corbyn into Downing Street.

The UK will go to the polls on 12 December.

Elsewhere in the election campaign:

Jeremy Corbyn will make a speech accusing the PM of trying to “hijack Brexit to sell out our NHS” and pledge to “get Brexit sorted” in six months.
Boris Johnson claims Labour’s position was “to go back to square one” and urges the Labour leader to “come clean” on his Brexit proposals.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon also focuses on Europe, telling voters that “a vote for the SNP is a vote to escape from Brexit”.

The political parties are ramping up their election campaigning, ahead of the official start to the five-week campaign period at just after midnight on Wednesday.

Campaign launch

Launching her party’s election campaign on Tuesday, Ms Swinson said: “Our country needs us to be more ambitious right now – and we are rising to that challenge.

“It is not about the red team or the blue team, because on this issue they merge into one – both Labour and the Conservatives want to negotiate and deliver Brexit.

“I never thought that I would stand here and say that I’m a candidate to be prime minister, but when I look at Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn, I am absolutely certain I could do a better job than either of them.”

The Lib Dem Leader said her party was “the only party standing up to stop Brexit and build a brighter future for the UK.

She argued that stopping Brexit would deliver a £50bn “Remain bonus” for public services over the next five years

The party said the £50bn figure – the amount that it has calculated will be saved over the next five years by staying in the EU – is based on the UK economy being 1.9% larger in 2024-25.

It reflects the extra tax income over the next five years and is based on a 0.4% average annual boost to GDP if the UK stays in the EU.

The Liberal Democrats have pledged to cancel Brexit if they win power at the next general election.

If the Lib Dems do not win a majority at the election they would support another referendum.

‘Big boost’

Deputy leader Sir Ed Davey told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the Lib Dems “actually think these are quite cautious figures”, adding that all the independent forecasters “were clear that there will be a big boost if we stay”.

Paul Johnson, from the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies, said it was a reasonable calculation in line with their own forecasts, adding: “We could expect the economy to be bigger if we were to remain and this assumes a relatively modest effect if anything, although obviously subject to a huge amount of uncertainty”.

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC many Remain supporters were “uncomfortable” with the Lib Dems’ plan to effectively “rub out” the 2016 referendum result and believed EU membership had to be “argued for and won” in another public vote.

The Lib Dem figures fact-checked

Concerning the Liberal Democrats’ calculation – of a £50bn ‘Remain bonus’ over five years – the vast majority of forecasts do expect the economy would be bigger if the UK were to stay in the EU.

The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies says this forecast is reasonable. But it can’t be predicted with any certainty, and it’s not a hugely significant amount in terms of overall government expenditure.