Tim Farron outlines 'optimistic direction' for Lib Dems
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Version 0 of 1. The new leader of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron, has denied that he will pull the party to the left, saying instead that he will take them in a “liberal and optimistic direction”. Farron was named the party’s new leader on Thursday evening after a 10-week campaign. He won the vote by 56.5% to 43.5% over rival candidate Norman Lamb, the MP for North Norfolk, on a turnout of only 56% of the party’s membership. Related: Tim Farron named Liberal Democrat party leader Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme for the first time in his new role on Friday morning, Farron said he was against the government’s proposals to limit child tax credits to two children per family, and the renewal of Trident. Asked to elaborate on his politics, the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale said: “I certainly think that government should be ambitious. But I don’t think it should interfere and meddle. “I believe in people being protected in terms of their civil liberties and personal freedoms. But I also believe that government should take the lead in making sure that we have a fairer country.” The leadership contest was triggered by the resignation of Nick Clegg, who quit the day after the party lost 48 of its 56 MPs in the general election in May, leaving it the fourth largest party in the Commons behind the SNP. Writing the day before the result of the leadership race was announced, the former Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, called for the party not to vacate the centre ground and become “a sort of soggy Syriza in sandals”. Farron is considered to be on the left of the Liberal Democrats, having opposed the coalition’s tripling of tuition fees and the introduction of the bedroom tax, and he has previously denied being a centrist. Related: Tim Farron’s a man of conviction and a risk-taker. That’s why he got my vote | David Steel “I think centrism is pointless. It’s uninspiring. I’m not a centrist,” he said at a recent hustings in Bristol, though he refused to say where he saw himself on the political spectrum, insisting politics was more complicated than left and right. “When all is said and done, what happened in the budget last week was that people in youngish families on low incomes who are hard working and in work will lose money,” said Farron on Friday. “And people who are rich, the richest 6% of people in this country will benefit, or their families will benefit, from the inheritance tax cut. “That’s not sound economics. That is not about making tough decisions. That is about redistributing the damage caused by the financial crash towards the poor and away from the rich and that is morally wrong.” On Trident, Farron said: “I think we should have a nuclear deterrent, but I don’t think we should be blowing £100m on a cold war relic. I think we should be investing it more wisely in more troops.” Farron has said he does not think the party, with its eight MPs, needs to be outspoken on every issue, but should instead champion issues that the two more populist parties are not willing to tackle. The Lib Dems under Farron will campaign against the right to buy being extended to Housing Association tenants and be unequivocal about the tragedy of the Mediterranean migrant crisis while extolling the benefits of immigration. “If we cheese off 70% of the electorate, but 30% embrace us, we’ll have that,” he told the Guardian in an interview during the campaign. Speaking to a rally of around 500 members in a town hall in north London on Thursday night, Farron said he was determined to bring the Liberal Democrats back from defeat. “There is nothing grubby about wanting to win. You can’t change people’s lives from second place. “You know, as a party we have been proven right so many times: On Kosovo, on Iraq, on climate change, on the financial crisis. Do you know what? I’m fed up to the back teeth of being right and losing elections.” |