Nick Ferrari Asks New Lib Dem Leader: "What's Democratic About Ignoring Brexit?"

23 July 2019, 09:55 | Updated: 23 July 2019, 09:58

Nick Ferrari put new Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson on the spot when he asked her what was so democratic about ignoring the result of the Brexit referendum.

Ms Swinson was announced as new Lib Dem leader yesterday, replacing Vince Cable, after she comfortably beat Ed Davey in a vote among members.

Speaking to LBC, she said her first priority as leader is stopping Brexit - and that led to some tough questions from Nick Ferrari.

She said: "Our country is very divided. I don't think with any outcome that is going to go away soon.

"Having a People's Vote, which can be done within a small number of months to be able to resolve whether that Brexit deal is what people want or whether they want to remain.

"And if they voted for remain, we would at least be able to get on with the other issues that currently get no attention from the government as all the political oxygen is consumed by Brexit."

That led Nick to ask her one simple question: "You're the leader of the Liberal Democrats party. Explain to my listeners what's democratic about ignoring the result of the referendum?"

When Ms Swinson said she was arguing for a democratic exercise, Nick pointed out we had one three years ago and she's trying to overturn the result.

But the new Lib Dem leader insisted: "It was a democratic exercise, but no a specific prescription of what Brexit would look like.

"Three years ago, no one was talking about, for example, crashing out without a deal. We had Brexiters lining up saying we were going to get a great deal, it was going to be the easiest deal in human history.

"That was what we were being told, that is very different to what is on offer now from Boris Johnson, who's saying we might crash out on 31st October without a deal, for all that would mean for the NHS, for our food supplies, for the chaos to our economy."