After the chaos of the last two weeks, I am more determined than ever that we stop Brexit.
That’s why, over the last few days, our team in Westminster have been working on a plan to ensure we can do that. I’m delighted to be able to share it with you today.
There are currently two barriers to stopping Brexit.
The first is Boris Johnson who has proven time and time again that he can’t be trusted.
The second is Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party.
His party has time and time again backed Brexit. Just this week he failed to back a referendum in Parliament and allowed 19 Labour MPs to vote for the deal.
To stop Brexit, we need to get Boris out of office.
To stop Brexit, we need to increase the number of anti-Brexit MPs in Parliament.
It’s clear that a General Election is the only way we can achieve both of those things.
That is why we are going to introduce a Bill to amend the Fixed Term Parliament Act and hold a General Election on Monday, December 9th.
Our Bill will only come into force if the EU offers an extension to at least 31st January 2020. The timetable also means that Boris Johnson cannot try to force his deal through Parliament again.
The longer the gridlock goes on in Parliament, the harder it becomes for us to stop Brexit.
We can see the growing frustrations in the EU at the gridlock. We can see that because of Labour MPs backing Boris Johnson’s Bill and Conservative rebels not backing a People’s Vote, the route to getting a People’s Vote this Parliament is difficult.
But there are millions of people in the country who believe that we are better off inside the EU.
Millions who know they deserve a better choice than Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn.
We are ready to take our pro-European message to the country and have a General Election.
In that election, our offer will be that a Liberal Democrat majority government will revoke Article 50 to Stop Brexit.
And that, is how we’ll stop Brexit.
If we are successful, polling day will be in 44 days.
We have an incredible opportunity ahead of us and together, I know we can pull off a result that will change our country for the better.