by Nick Hopkinson, Chair, Liberal Democrat European Group*
Twitter: @libdemeurope and @nickhopkinsonEU
I have four key messages: 1. Brexit is not a done deal; 2. Brexit can be stopped; 3. The #peoplesvote is theway to #exitfrombrexit; 4. Each and every one of us needs to get behind the Peoples Vote and capitalise on it as the only national party which is wholeheartedly supporting it.
Lib Dem Leader Sir Vince Cable is set to claim it is possible to legislate for a fresh referendum within weeks and for it to be held before the Article 50 process expires.
In a speech during a rally on Saturday - organised by the People's Vote campaign for a fresh referendum - Sir Vince is expected to dismiss concerns from Brexiteer "fanatics" that there is no time to get legislation through parliament for a second public vote.
The odds on a second Brexit referendum before 2020 have shortened to 2.48 after polls showed that, for the first time, a majority of Britons want to vote again on their country's future relationship with the European Union. It is becoming clear that the Government's Chequers 'deal' is not going to work and increasingly the choice is a "hard Brexit" or stay in the EU.
The Liberal Democrats have pressed Essex County Council to ensure that the Council and residents are ready to deal with the impact on Essex of leaving the EU. The council has been slow to act.
Cllr John Baker (Lib Dem Councillor in eastern Colchester) asked at full council in July 2017 that main committees should have an item on their Agenda. This was agreed by the Conservative spokesperson. However, this did not happen, so Cllr Baker he chased it again.
The government's Brexit stance is riddled with legal confusion
Only Parliament - not the Government and indeed not a referendum - can decide IF the UK leaves the EU. At the moment, the Government only has permission to say it intends to leave. A leading lawyer argues that, if Parliament rejects the deal to leave, the UK has to stay in.
First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon said today that the U.K. government's position on leaving the EU customs union and single market is "unsustainable" and dominated by "mad Brexiteers."
In an interview with POLITICO's Ryan Heath in Brussels, Sturgeon urged British citizens not to give up on the possibility of preserving the U.K.'s membership of both.
The EU has leapt ahead of the UK in the pursuit of free trade deals with Australia and New Zealand after member states gave the green light for talks to start within weeks.
British jobs should be protected, following a vote in the House of Lords.Liberal Democrats helped defeat theGovernment and voted to keep Britain in a European Customs Union, which is key to Britain's future prosperity.
An amendment on the customs union (supported by the Liberal Democrats and some Crossbenchers, Labour and Conservative peers) was passed by 348 votes to 225.
As many of us head out for a day of Action to #exitfrombrexit on Saturday 14 April, the following article by Mark Argent (originally posted in Liberal Democrat Voice earlier this month) provides a first hand account of the current mood of voters about Brexit - see:
Much of our campaign since the 2017 general election has revolved around the "Exit from Brexit". We need to win over Remainers; by having a clear and repeated anti-Brexit position, the electorate will know what we stand for.
There are a few problems.
Firstly, we are not "anti-Brexit", we are pro-EU. Every time we say "Brexit", we evoke certain thought patterns within the minds of voters, particularly the so-called ReLeavers (those who voted Remain but feel we should Leave because of the referendum).
