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Labour should wave goodbye to Jeremy Corbyn if he fails to support fresh referendum, says Vince Cable

Liberal Democrat leader also reiterated radical plans to ‘open up’ his party, admitting: ‘Our party is still very male and pale’

Ashley Cowburn
Political Correspondent
Tuesday 18 September 2018 14:53 BST
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Vince Cable comments on Labour and The Conservatives: 'If they can't stop the rot, they should leave'

Labour members should “wave goodbye” to Jeremy Corbyn if he fails to throw his party’s support behind a fresh referendum, Sir Vince Cable has said.

In his keynote speech at the climax of the party’s annual conference, the Liberal Democrat leader told delegates that Brexit is “not inevitable” and “must be stopped”, as he urged Mr Corbyn to be “brave”.

In what is likely to be the 75-year-old’s last address as leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Vince also failed to address his own future at the helm of the party.

He has previously refused to outline an “artificial timeline” for his departure, but a senior source, speaking ahead of the speech, refused to say whether Sir Vince would be delivering the leader’s speech at the party’s 2019 autumn conference.

The former coalition cabinet minister used his address in Brighton to reiterate radical changes to the party’s internal structures he hopes to usher through before his departure, including allowing non-MPs to stand in future leadership contests.

Speaking in the conference hall, he admitted: “Our party is still very male and pale. We must change that.”

Turning his attention to Brexit, Sir Vince said: “The Brexit date may be 29 March, but it is only a maybe. Brexit is not inevitable. It can and it must be stopped.”

He called on Theresa May to “shock us all” by offering a second public vote on any deal she should return from Brussels with, but said it would be “far easier for Jeremy Corbyn to be brave on Brexit”.

“This is his big chance,” he said. “He used to be the campaigning backbencher who joined us in opposing the Iraq war and defending civil liberties.

“In his new role he has kept his hands clean and his image polished by hiring hard left bootboys and girls to do his dirty work.”

Sir Vince continued: “If Jeremy Corbyn will not say ‘I will support a People’s Vote and I will fight Brexit’, Labour members should wave him goodbye. He is currently letting down the many people in Labour’s heartland who now see Brexit for what it is.”

Lashing out at the hardline Brexiteers, he accused them of ignoring years of “economic pain” to justify the “erotic spasm” of withdrawing from the European Union.

In the speech, Sir Vince also said that he does not accept that it “is some form of racism to want immigration to be managed like other parts of the economy” but said the public had to realise that it has not depressed wages.

“I have personal experience of racism,” he told the party faithful. “I embarked on a mixed marriage in this country when racism was rife. My wife and children were being denounced as people whose very presence here would lead to rivers foaming with blood.

“And I was thrown out of the parental home. So I will never waver in my commitment to call out and stand out racism in all its forms.”

But, he added: “We must understand that to dismiss all Brexit voters as racists is simply wrong and utterly counterproductive.”

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