At the manifesto’s launch, Cable – who’s set to resign his post in the summer – declared the Liberal Democrats to be “unambiguous and honest” in its quest to derail Brexit. The party has consistently been the most pro-European party in British politics for several decades.
The Liberal Democrats have attempted to make a splash in the impending European parliament elections by plastering the slogan ‘Bollocks to Brexit’ on the party’s manifesto.
The motto, which Remainers have daubed on t-shirts, protest banners, stickers and even mugs ever since the June 2016 referendum, was appropriated by party leader Vince Cable as he wants to mount a “high-pressure campaign”, perhaps emboldened by the Lib Dems’ positive local election performance — in which the party gained over 600 council seats.
“We are clearly the best organised, we have been leading the People’s Vote argument for three years and we’ve been the pro-Europe party for 50 years. We are credible and people recognise our unwavering clarity and commitment. We are taking it very seriously, we have a high-pressure social media campaign where we are doing more than Farage’s people. We are out of the traps early, and expect to do well. But it is a very unpredictable scenario,” Cable told The Guardian.
However, despite the party’s aggressive pro-Remain stance, the leader also bemoaned having been compelled to devote so much time to Brexit, an issue he said had become “mind-numbing” and “repetitious”, with “the same slogans, no new arguments and very unproductive”.