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Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron is in high spirits - despite facing a massive challenge.

Speaking to the Sunday Sun, he said his party was on course to win seats in the North East at the next general election.

And he believes his support for continued membership of the European Union will be popular, even in a region like the North East which voted overwhelmingly to quit the EU in June’s referendum.

Mr Farron plans to go into the next election calling for a new referendum, giving voters a chance to reverse June’s decision and stay in the EU.

But it’s not a good time to be Liberal Democrat leader.

Just last year the party was in power, as part of a Coalition with the Conservatives, and had 56 MPs.

But the May 2015 general election saw the Lib Dem vote collapse. Today, there are just eight of them in the House of Commons.

And they faced wipeout in the North East. Berwick-upon-Tweed, held by the Lib Dems since 1973, fell to the Conservatives.

Redcar, which the Lib Dems won for the first time in 2010, was lost to Labour.

Mr Farron knows the North East well, having studied at Newcastle University. He stood for election in North West Durham in 1992, competing against Conservative candidate Theresa May - now the Prime Minister - although the seat was won by Labour.

Today, he argues that the divisions within the Labour Party, and what some see as Labour’s takeover by the hard left, provide an opportunity for the Lib Dems to “fill a gap in the market”.

Mr Farron said: “Being in power is difficult, but you can make a difference, you can help people. If you are in opposition you cannot.

“It’s one of the reasons I feel so frustrated about a Labour Party that wants to feel good about itself but not to achieve anything.

“I can’t do anything about the election result in May 2015. I can do loads about what happens next.

“Britain needs a sensible, moderate, progressive, centre left party that is outward looking and is economically competent as well as being fair and decent. And that is only going to be provided by the Liberal Democrats.”

That’s fine in theory, but is it actually happening? Mr Farron insists the Lib Dems are making progress - and the party is regaining the support it enjoyed in the North East back when he was a student in the 1990s.

Liberal Democrats went on to run Newcastle City Council, from 2004 to 2011.

“In Newcastle, membership has grown to our highest ever level.

“I was once upon a time a member of the party in Newcastle when I was at university there, at our very highest point, and I’m advised that we’ve gone past that.

“Membership in the North East is higher than it’s been certainly this century and probably since the party was formed.

“We’ve had great success getting a seat on Sunderland council. It demonstrates that where we work we are making real progress.

“The Labour party is unopposed in so much of the North East of England and it makes them utterly complacent and out of touch with local people, because they just assume they are going to get elected all the time.”

Can the Lib Dems win back Berwick-upon-Tweed at the next election?

He says: “Yep, for sure”.

UKIP also hope to capitalise on Labour’s national problems and make gains in the North East, but Mr Farron says they will fail because North East voters want a party that “believes in fairness”. In his eyes, that rules UKIP out.

One big difference with UKIP is that he thinks the UK should remain in the EU - and plans to go into the next election promising a second referendum, which would give voters the chance to reverse Brexit.

Technically, it would be a vote on whether or not to accept whatever terms have been agreed for leaving the EU. But if the public voted “no” then the result would be that the UK stayed in.

Mr Farron said: “There should be a vote, and the vote would be to either accept the deal that the government has got, or if the British people reject the deal then we would remain in the European Union and fight to reform it from within.”

Labour leadership candidate Owen Smith also backs a second referendum. However, if Jeremy Corbyn wins Labour’s leadership contest, as appears likely, the Lib Dems will be the only major party to go into the next election calling for another EU vote.

Mr Farron argues that British people have not yet been consulted on what exactly should happen if the country does leave the EU.

“Whether you are a remainer or a Brexiteer or somewhere in the middle, or you are not sure or you have changed your mind, the Liberal Democrats are the only party offering the British people a choice and offering them the final say on where we go next.”

The interview took place hours before Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid announced that he was axing plans for a North East mayor, and Mr Farron made it clear that he did not believe a mayor should be forced upon the region.

The Government had been encouraging local councils to agree to the creation of a regional mayor, and offered the region a £900 million investment fund as well as new powers over transport and housing in return.

Mr Farron said: “It’s up to the North East to make that decision.

“But Theresa May appears to be not bothering asking the people of the North East, and giving them potentially something they don’t want and which I think will be potentially bad for the region.”

The Liberal Democrats, and their predecessors the Liberal Party, have traditionally been had an influence on British politics even when they were a long way from power.

As the third largest party, their leader was guaranteed a chance to question the Prime Minister in the House of Commons. But last year’s general election left the Lib Dems as the fourth party in the Commons - jointly with the Democratic Unionists - and Mr Farron must compete with backbench MPs from all parties for the chance to speak.

He insists things can change quickly, and draws a comparison between the Lib Dems and the Scottish National Party (SNP).

In the 2010 General Election, the SNP won just six seats. Last year they won 56.

“If you look north of the border, two years ago the SNP had just six MPs and now for better or for worse Scotland basically is a one party state.

“I’m not advocating that, but I’m saying, just think how quickly things change when a party captures the mood and fills a gap in the market. That is exactly what we aim to do.”