London is a liberal city. Over 250 languages are spoken in the capital, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. As host to one of the largest Pride events in Europe and the biggest carnival outside Rio, London and its residents celebrate diversity and embrace difference. 

London is also a Remain city. It is home to a third of all the EU citizens living in the UK and every sector in the capital – from hoteliers to health-workers, builders to bankers – relies on EU migrants to thrive. 

So the frustrating conundrum until recently, was why weren’t more Londoners voting for the Liberal Democrats? Well, the European elections have changed all of that. 

With our unambiguous, anti-Brexit message, we topped the poll in London, securing three of the eight London MEP seats and winning 16 boroughs outright. It was an unprecedented win for the Liberal Democrats in London. We are now the popular and credible choice for voters across the capital.

There are plenty of similarities between Boris Johnson and Donald Trump. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery – maybe it’s Johnson’s way of sucking up for that trade deal. Which probably makes him the only person in the country looking forward to chlorinated chicken.

In fact, in a speech a while, Trump said “they call [Johnson] Britain Trump and people are saying that’s a good thing. They like me over there.”*

*poll after poll has found that British people definitely do not like him.

Trump’s administration has been open in how much they want Johnson’s no-deal. They can’t wait for American corporations to get their hands on our NHS and flood our supermarkets with low-quality produce. 

Anyway, another one of those similarities is their history for remarks ranging from dodgy to flat-out bigoted. So here’s our challenge to you: Trump or Johnson, who said it?

Coming straight off the back of the Brecon and Radnorshire campaign, we launched our election campaign for Sheffield Hallam at the weekend, with more than 100 people who joined us to knock on doors, deliver leaflets, and help with clerical work in the office.

It seems like promising Lib Dem by-elections are like buses – you wait for a long time and then two come along at once!

People are fed up of seeing politicians arguing for things that put their party’s interest above the country. We have to come together to prevent Boris Johnson crashing us out the EU without a deal. I’m proud of the work that the Liberal Democrats have done with MPs from all parties and none to make stopping Brexit a real possibility.

I have made several suggestions of a way forward. From amending legislation that already exists to new laws, or an emergency government led by the two most experienced MPs in the House of Commons.

Jeremy Corbyn’s demand to lead any emergency government shows that he’s only willing to oppose no-deal on his own terms.

In just eleven weeks, however, our country faces an immediate crisis: crashing out of the EU without any deal. The most cavalier and catastrophic of Brexits: putting at risk hundreds of thousands of jobs , public services including our NHS , and even our national security.

So in this moment of national emergency, I stand ready to work with anyone to stop Boris Johnson and his hard-line Brexit government.

Despite saying that No Deal was a million to one chance, that is clearly the destination Boris Johnson is headed towards.

He was prepared to say anything in his selfish quest to become Prime Minister at all costs. And there will be costs. Because let’s be frank – a no deal Brexit is an utterly irresponsible pursuit.

No decent public servant should even contemplate risking that level of damage to our country.

A no deal Brexit will be a bad deal for our public services and our economy.

So bad that we’ll have to stockpile medicines, accept food shortages, and spend taxpayers’ money bailing out otherwise healthy businesses.

Read the full text of the speech here.