Cable: I regret there’s no joint ticket for Remain in the EU elections

Updated

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable has said he regrets failing to pull together a Remain coalition.

Speaking at an event to launch his party’s EU election candidates in Wapping, east London, Sir Vince said he would have been happy to campaign alongside other parties, including new pro-Remain party Change UK.

But, with a leaked memo from Change UK saying there would be “no mergers, pacts or alliances”, Sir Vince said the Lib Dems would instead campaign alone.

He said: “I’ve got a couple of regrets about this referendum and the first is that we’re not standing on a common platform with other Remain parties to stop Brexit.

“It’s true that the Brexit parties are also divided, but we should be standing together – the millions of people in this country who voted Remain would expect us to stand together.

“It has not happened, it was not reciprocated, so we’re going our own way, but it’s a pity.”

Sir Vince said his other regret was that the EU election would happen so close to the council elections, but he expected a strong local result to buoy the party in its EU campaigning.

He denied that the European Parliament election would be a proxy for another EU referendum, saying a People’s Vote would still be needed because “that’s the only way of resolving the issue”.

EU elections: opinion polls
EU elections: opinion polls

He added: “The EU elections will give us a sense of how people feel about it but they won’t give a clear answer to that question.”

When asked by the Press Association whether the Lib Dems were a party of the Establishment seeking to block the democratic will of the people, Sir Vince said he was not leading a “fringe protest party”.

He said: “We’re a serious party, if that’s what you mean by saying we’re a party of the Establishment.

“I’ve been in government, I’ve been a Cabinet minister, so to that extent we’re not just a fringe protest party.

“We’re a serious party with something serious to say and something serious to offer and we’re not embarrassed about that.”

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