Willie Rennie urges Lib Dems to provide alternative to Trump and Brexit
Liberal Democrats will provide an alternative to the “repugnant views” of US President-elect Donald Trump and Brexiteers, Willie Rennie has pledged.
Liberal Democrats will provide an alternative to the “repugnant views” of US President-elect Donald Trump and Brexiteers, Willie Rennie has pledged.
The Scottish Lib Dem leader insisted the response to both the UK's vote to quit the European Union and the election of the outspoken US tycoon “must be one of hope, not despair”.
Mr Rennie called on the UK to use its “old ties” with America to “encourage President Trump up a path of compassion and tolerance”.
He stated the UK “should work within Nato, the G8 and every other opportunity, including that special relationship, to steer President Trump in the right direction”.
And on Europe he said that Lib Dem MPs would not back a vote to trigger Article 50, to start the formal process of exiting the EU, unless the Tory Government at Westminster agrees to hold a second Brexit referendum on the results of the negotiations.
The election of Mr Trump to the White House and the vote for Brexit came about because millions of people in both countries “felt left behind”, Mr Rennie said.
“They were so desperate for change that they were prepared to put up with repugnant views in order to get that change.”
He told the Scottish Liberal Democrat Autumn conference in Dunfermline, Fife; “Too many are left behind. Too many people are forgotten.
“It is the responsibility of the progressives to show a different way. Hope, optimism and change.”
On the UK leaving the EU he argued that “when few, if any, Government ministers even now know what Brexit means it would only be right for the people of our country to have a say on the final deal agreed with Europe”.
Mr Rennie stated: “A Brexit deal referendum would be the democratic thing to do.
“So we will use our power in the Houses of Parliament to give the British people their say on the Brexit deal in a referendum.
“If there is no agreement to a Brexit deal referendum, we will refuse to vote to trigger Article 50 in the House of Commons and House of Lords.”
The election of Mr Trump earlier this week sparked “the same sense of loss, even of bereavement, that so many people felt after the Brexit vote”, he said.
But he insisted that “Liberals are not quitters”, telling party activists: “I refuse to give up on America, I refuse to give up on Europe, I refuse to give up on the United Kingdom.
“I am optimistic about our country's future. I want our relationship with others to be open and progressive.
“I will not give up on that ambition. Our country should not. And our party will not.”
Mr Rennie added: “Just because the progressives have failed on Europe and the United States does not mean that we give up on the USA, EU and UK.
“We don't give up on people. We must try, try and try again.”
He hailed the “progressive leadership” of Justin Trudeau in Canada, who he described as being “liberal to his core”.
In Scotland he said his party was “winning again” after Lib Dems took seats from the SNP in May's Holyrood elections, and he said the party could win again too in the Scottish council elections in 2016.
“People will have a choice,” he said.
“They can choose a Liberal Democrat councillor who will be the local champion, work to fix the potholes, campaign for a new school, win home care for local people.
“Or they can choose a nationalist who is obsessed with independence. That is what next year's elections will be about.”
In Scotland he stressed the “need to put an end to the division over independence”, saying there was a need to “unite the country not divide it”.
He hit out at the SNP Government at Holyrood, accusing ministers of failing to meet their commitments on the NHS, climate change and other areas.
But he said Nicola Sturgeon's “great dereliction of duty” had been the Memorandum of Understanding signed with two Chinese firms.
He branded the agreement, which has now been cancelled, a “dodgy deal”, saying “the SNP signed a deal with this Chinese company without checking who they were” amid concerns over the human rights records of one of the firms involved.
Mr Rennie said: “This is a Government that wants to negotiate international trade deals for an independent country. At this rate they'd end up buying bananas from Alaska.
“Human rights get ignored whilst they pretend they know what they are doing. Big business gets the breaks whilst everyone else gets left behind. Public services get worse whilst they argue for independence.
“And all along the SNP point the finger of blame everyone else but themselves. No wonder people feel let down.”