Thursday and Friday saw the biggest political shift in the British Isles since the execution of King Charles I in 1649. On Thursday this country was a proud outwards looking member of the European Union. A diplomatic power in the pantheon of nations and the 5^th largest economy in the world.

On Friday at 7:20am everything changed....

We voted by a slim majority to leave the European Union, and now our country’s place in the world, our sense of national identity, our economic security and our society are all up for debate. During the referendum the LEAVE campaign made many promises and less than 48 hours after the result was declared their big 3 pledges have all been retracted or proven false. On Friday morning Nigel Farage admitted that the pledge to spend the £350 million of our (incorrect) membership fee, on the NHS was a “mistake” and couldn’t be guaranteed. Early Friday morning, the pledge by the leave campaign that there wouldn’t be “a sudden change that disrupts the economy. The day after the referendum” was proven false with a collapse in the value of the pound to its lowest level since 1985, and hundreds of billions of pounds wiped off the value of the FTSE 250 within minutes of it opening, with a drop of over 2000 points. On Saturday, leading Brexit campaigner, MEP Daniel Hannan, said on Newsnight, that the Leave campaign didn’t want to cut immigration to the tens of thousands, and wanted free movement for workers. In fact the only major pledge by the LEAVE campaign that hasn’t yet been proven false is the enigmatic pledge to “take our country back”. But even with that pledge leading Leave campaigners Boris Johnson and Michael Gove said there is no need to start the process to formally leave the EU any time soon, so quite when they feel like meeting that pledge isn’t clear. We are of course shocked and devastated by this result, it is our belief that only within the European Union can Britain truly thrive. Only within the European Union can we generate the prosperity to fund our world class public services. Regardless of what happen over the next few years, we will do our best to fight for our core values and vision, of a liberal, Tolerant Britain. Where everyone is given the opportunity to succeed, and no one is left behind. If you agree with our vision, then now is when you need to act. No more can you sit at home and let someone else fight for a liberal Britain. No more can you say it is someone else’s problem. The sun is setting on the Britain, it is up to you to decide what our country looks like when it next rises. Join us and make it a Britain you can be proud of again. Join the Liberal Democrats  

www.libdems.org.uk/join