Lib Dems are foolish to ditch their pro-EU commitment

The Liberal Democrats are putting a motion to their virtual conference this weekend to end the party’s commitment to trying to rejoin the EU. This will annoy many of their activists. It will convince some pro-Europeans that the time to rip up their membership cards is now (and, for many others, to feel smug about having always doubted the party). So what’s the upside? There isn’t one. Instead, this is another in a long line of useless moves by the party, built on trying to get people who will never like the Lib Dems to change their minds.

To make matters worse, the motion is predictably wishy washy in what it sets out. It commits the party to ‘keep all options open’ in regard to Britain’s relationship with the EU. I’d almost have more respect for the party if the wording was ‘we think leaving the EU was the best thing that’s ever happened to Britain and we were wrong to oppose Brexit’.