British politics will undergo a “significant realignment” after the EU referendum which could see the Liberal Democrats follow the example of their Canadian cousins to mount a serious challenge to be the main party of government within the next decade, the party leader, Tim Farron, has said. As he hailed the “quiet rise” of the Lib Dems after their devastating losses in last year’s general election when they won only eight seats, Farron said his party could become a major force at the 2025 general election as a “meeting place” for pro-EU liberals from Labour and the Conservative parties after the referendum. [The Guardian]

‘When do you think you’ll be in power?’ has a touch of the ‘when did you stop beating your wife?’ when it comes to leaders of political parties out of power in that whatever they say, some people will object to the answer.

However, Tim Farron’s reasoning has more sense than many answers to these type of questions because the combination of Europe and Jeremy Corbyn means both Tories and Labour face huge threats to their future unity and success.

Will both major parties fail significantly? Probably not, but conversely there are pretty good odds at least one of them will. That opens up a huge opportunity for the Liberal Democrats: