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Rather than split the anti-Brexit vote, Jo Swinson must campaign for a Final Say poll

Editorial: The question is how to resolve the Brexit deadlock, and The Independent believes that a new referendum is the only way

Saturday 14 September 2019 16:11 BST
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Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson says proroguing Parliament is an 'outrageous power grab' by Boris Johnson

The big decision, as the Liberal Democrat conference gets under way in Bournemouth, is whether the party will vote for a policy of cancelling Brexit without a further referendum. If so – and delegates are expected to follow Jo Swinson, their leader, in supporting the policy – it will be largely symbolic.

The question is what to put in the party’s manifesto if there is a general election while Britain is still in the European Union. Ms Swinson wants to commit a Lib Dem government to revoking Article 50. But she and her party activists know that a majority Lib Dem government is unlikely, and that the policy is therefore more of a statement of intent – an opening bid in interparty negotiations in a hung parliament, perhaps.

As The Independent argued this week, the policy is unsatisfactory and needlessly polarising. We have long held that the only way to reverse the 2016 vote is through another, Final Say, referendum. However, we can understand the party political reasons for wanting to adopt the most sharply defined anti-Brexit position possible.

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