The four freedoms of the EU are quintessentially Liberal in their values. The free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour, are four things that are integral to our diplomatic ties to Europe, our economic prosperity, and our staunchly internationalist principles. They are behind the core concept of the EU, the underlying beliefs of the EU, and the reason that many, even who voted Leave, acknowledge the economic benefits of the EU. They are also the things that I believe we should fight for, before all else.

As someone who lives in, campaigns in, and is quite attached to, my own Leave-voting county, I must admit that my feelings on the second referendum have been mixed throughout the campaign. Put simply, in many rural areas, however much good policy we have, thousands and thousands people who didn’t vote Lib Dem in 2015, and voted Leave, simply won’t consider it. I believe that a not insubstantial part of the reasoning for this is because of the second referendum promise.

That isn’t to say that in some areas the promise didn’t work. We did, after all, gain seats this election, in a wide range of areas. However, our victories were ultimately rather centred on Remain voting constituencies. Perhaps with the exception of Norman Lamb’s Norfolk North, our appeal to rural or soft brexiteering voters has been far less wide-ranging than one may expect. This is a shame. I think that there is certainly a way for us to appeal to voters on both sides of the referendum.

I would not oppose a second referendum. But I feel a better policy to fight for, and a better principle to campaign upon, is one which forges our own idea of what Brexit should look like; to me, that is a Brexit of the Four Freedoms. We need to be fighting for the principles behind Europe, and what makes our values so deep rooted in the continent that we call home. Those principles are no more clearly displayed than in the Four Freedoms. The free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour. They should be our priority, and what we stand on our soapboxes and are relentless in promoting the virtues of. If we fail to put forward that case, I fear that we will have missed a golden opportunity.

We will always be the party of Remain; what is essential is that we need to show voters that we can forge a future for Britain outside of the EU, as well as one within it.