“The EU’s four freedoms – of goods, services, capital and people – have underpinned British prosperity for the past 40 years. Yet the Conservatives’ extreme Brexit will deprive us from all four, making us poorer.

“Meanwhile, Conservative attempts to build new trade relationships in a post-Brexit world have been rebuffed with the Boeing row underlying just how hard it will be to strike a trade deal with America.
 
“Far from thriving, business is struggling under Theresa May’s premiership as Britain slips ever further down the growth league.
 
“I am proud that the Liberal Democrat policy of independence for the Bank of England twenty years ago – the subject of my maiden speech – has increased growth and prosperity. Sadly government policy is now pushing Britain in the opposite direction, towards fortresses and economic downturns.”

“Jeremy Corbyn has once again confirmed he is one of Brexit’s biggest cheerleaders.

“It’s 2017; this is welcome but decades overdue.  Of course it is good news for women in Saudi Arabia, but they continue to face oppression, such as the guardianship laws that put men in control of women’s lives.  

“Rather than simply expressing ‘bitter disappointment’, our government should be out there fighting for vital British manufacturing jobs in Belfast. 

“I welcome signs from top Labour people that they are willing to join the Liberal Democrats in giving the people a referendum on the facts, at the end of the Brexit process.