Vince Cable ditches opposition to second EU referendum as he takes over as leader of the Liberal Democrats
He said that it was counterproductive to support such a move after taking over from former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron
SIR Vince Cable will ditch his opposition to a second EU referendum once and for all when he becomes leader of the Lib Dems tomorrow.
Less than a year ago the former Business Secretary described his party’s support for a second vote “seriously disrespectful and politically utterly counterproductive”.
But on the eve of taking over from Tim Farron Sir Vince told The Sun: “At the end of the process I want the public offered a choice - do we go ahead or do we stay in the EU.”
Sir Vince, 74, escaped a lengthy leadership contest over the summer after he was the only of the 12 Lib Dem MPs to put his name forward for the job.
He will take over from Mr Farron after his ill-fated two-years as leader.
Sir Vince - who has previously stood in as interim leader - says he is “impatient and ambitious” and has set his sights high - aiming to make the Lib Dems the second largest party in terms of membership to overtake the Tories.
Setting out his stall ahead of his coronation Thursday, he said: “There’s a gaping hole in British politics.
We’ve got hard right on Brexit we’ve got the hard-left in charge of the Labour party. Millions of people who want moderate, common sense politics are unrepresentative and I want the Lib Dems to fill that space.”
He insisted his support for a second EU referendum was more nuanced than simply wanting a rerun of last year’s vote.
Explaining his updated stance on a second referendum, Sir Vince said: “We’re not re-doing the last one - and in that I think people misunderstood it. We’re not harking to the past, we’ve already had it, the people have voted and we’re dealing with the consequences.
“When we get to the end of the negotiations and we see what is on offer we’ve got to offer the public the choice of whether they accept this arrangement - good or bad - or do we go back to where we were - going back to staying in the European Union.
“If the deal is so bad or non-existent, we’ve got to have that ambition.”
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Last week he vented his frustration that it was impossible to be a successful political leader in the UK and be religious.
Mr Farron said his two-year stint as a party leader proved that you need to have a “very, very boring back story” to survive.
And he admitted he regretted ever talking about his faith in public because it only persuaded journalists to quiz him about his views on gay sex and abortion.