Jo Swinson’s anti-Corbyn stance is designed to win over Tory voters – and it could lead to no-deal Brexit Attempts to prevent a disastrous no-deal Brexit could be derailed if Jo Swinson sticks by her opposition to a Corbyn-led government

In the current chaotic swirl of UK politics, with the Liberal Democrats again posturing as kingmakers, there has been surprisingly little focus on exactly why its leader Jo Swinson so vehemently opposes a Jeremy Corbyn-led caretaker government to prevent a disastrous no-deal Brexit.

But the reason is quite straightforward: to have any chance of electoral success, the Lib Dems need to woo disaffected Tories.

To understand this, look at the Lib Dems’ political orientation. Many people wrongly see them as cuddly progressives – a party that it is safe to vote for if you want to remain in the European Union. Some have even suggested they could be part of a so-called progressive alliance. This is misguided.

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The Lib Dems’ former positioning as equidistant between the two main parties was ditched in 2010 when it jumped into bed with David Cameron’s Conservatives, and supported him through five years of regressive policies and the dismantling of our public services.

Decade of austerity

The damage done to our communities by the decade of austerity they helped to usher in will only be repaired by a radical, transformative Labour government.

Swinson was not an innocent bystander in this, she was a fully-signed up minister in the coalition – voting through the bedroom tax and massive cuts to social security and the services we all rely on, including slashing so much money from council budgets that some local authorities have gone bust.

Then, of course, there is the inglorious and infamous betrayal of students with a tripling of tuition fees to £9,000 just a few months after standing on an election commitment to do the exact opposite.

To this day, Swinson – who is putting herself forward as a potential prime minister – has not repudiated her record in office.The Lib Dem leadership is instinctively right of centre.

And part of the logic for that can be found in the party’s demographic base, which pulls them in the same direction. We know from internal Lib Dem papers that the top 100 seats they are targeting are almost all Tory-held. And in 2017, the Lib Dems did not win a single seat where Labour was in second place.

Tory defectors

What is more, the Lib Dems seem to be openly taking in any Tory who believes the party’s hardline Brexit stance is no longer attractive to their own constituents, in areas which broadly back Remain – despite their political values and allegiance remaining far to the right of what most people would consider to be centre ground.

Most notably former Tory minister Phillip Lee, who has an appalling record of voting against equal marriage and migrants’ rights.

The Lib Dem strategy therefore requires the party to be both ultra-Remain – hence Swinson’s insistence that she would unilaterally, and undemocratically, revoke Article 50 – and staunchly anti-Corbyn, so it doesn’t frighten off potential Tory waverers.

Progressively minded, socially liberal voters who are considering how to vote in the coming election need to weigh these things carefully. A vote for the Liberal Democrats is likely to result in a Tory government.

If the Lib Dems dispute all this, they can do one simple thing: vote with us to bring down this rotten Tory government and install Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister to prevent a no-deal Brexit and then call a general election.

Any other course of action will only lead to the conclusion that, despite the protestations, the Lib Dems’ whole approach is based on narrow party interest rather than what is in the wider interests of our country.

When it comes to a choice between preventing no-deal or having a socialist as an interim Prime Minister, Swinson’s Lib Dems appear to have made their choice. They should be forced honestly to explain why.

Jon Trickett MP is Labour’s Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office