What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The Lib Dems today made an audacious bid to oust the Tories as the party of big business in a stunning attack on Theresa May.

The Prime Minister's decision to chase a hard Brexit means she is to blame for any resulting damage, Lib Dem chief Tim Farron said.

He accused the Conservative leader of betraying corporate backers by abandoning the single market.

She is “taking them for granted because she thinks they have nowhere else to go”, he said, adding: “Theresa May has put at risk the very people who have bankrolled her party’s success for years.”

Speaking at his party's spring conference in York, Mr Farron said: “If I was a businessperson who had given money to today’s Conservatives, I would demand my money back.

“You were sold a free market, internationalist, pro-business party but what you’ve got is protectionism, nationalism, economic vandalism.

(Image: PA)

“So business should drop the Conservative Party like a hot brick.”

He called on to firms to “do it publicly... do it now”.

He went on: “If you are an entrepreneur or an investor, a City financier or a hedge fund manager, a shop keeper or a start-up... they don’t want what you want, not any more. Dump them.

“There is only one party in British politics right now fighting to keep you in the world’s biggest marketplace, who wants to encourage an economy built on dynamism, innovation and opportunity, who believes in a genuinely free market; who wants challengers, ideas, innovation, who wants a liberal economy – and that party is the Liberal Democrats .”

Mr Farron heaped praise on ex-Tory MP Stephen Phillips, who backed Leave in last year's referendum but quit the Commons because he disagreed with a hard Brexit .

“There are dozens of Conservative MPs who have been put in the same position as him - especially among those elected in the last two elections, attracted by what they believed was a new era of compassionate conservatism under David Cameron - pro-business and pro-environment, who believed in social justice as much as sound economics,” Mr Farron told hundreds of cheering activists.

(Image: Getty)

“We shared power with their party for five years, so I think I can say this to them bluntly – you aren’t in that party any more, it has gone.

“You are now the supporters of a Government that is as anti-business as Jeremy Corbyn .

“You are now the cheerleaders of a government that is an anti-refugees as Nigel Farage.

“You are now backing an agenda that is the opposite of what you signed up for.”

He put those Tories on notice that the Lib Dems would target them at the next general election in the same way the party ousted former Tory MP Zac Goldsmith in last year's stunning Richmond Park by-election.

Mr Goldsmith backed Leave but the constituency voted heavily to Remain.

Mr Farron urged the MPs: “You know it’s wrong so for pity’s sake, have some self-respect. Defect or resign.

“If you don’t then when the next election comes we will do to you what we did to Zac Goldsmith .”

And he set a bold target for the Lib Dems, saying he wanted them to replace Labour as the official Opposition.