Ed Davey sparks Brexiteer backlash with EU demand in conference speech

Brexiteers warned the Lib Dems want to rejoin the EU "through the backdoor" after Sir Ed Davey demanded Britain returns to the single market.

The Liberal Democrat leader called on Labour to put the UK "on the road back" to the EU single market in his closing speech to the party's autumn conference.

He told the gathering in Brighton: "And the pressing need to fix our broken relationship with Europe.

"To get a better deal for Britain, and put us on the road back to the single market.

"Including – yes – a youth mobility scheme, to boost British businesses and give our young people the freedom to travel and work across Europe."

But veteran Tory MP Andrew Rosindell warned the move would amount to "effectively rejoining the EU without having any say over the rules".

The Brexiteer said: "Ed Davey is demonstrating what I've believed for some time now that the Liberal Democrats are not democratic.

"They ignore and have ignored for a very long time the greatest vote of the British people, the biggest vote, the largest turnout ever in history.

"And now they are trying through the backdoor to get us back into the EU. Let's be clear about this joining the single market is effectively rejoining the EU without having any say over the rules.

"So if they are going to dismantle all the trade deals the previous government negotiated, if they are going to dismantle all the work done to prepare Britain to be a free independent nation global trading again as we've done joining the CPTPP then that's what they will achieve because joining the single market means our trade policy is decided by the EU. Now that's what the British people rejected."

Tory leadership contender James Cleverly said: “Ed Davey treated the General Election campaign like his stag party; his conference has been no different.

“He doesn’t have any solutions to the issues our country is facing; his idea of opposition is to snipe from the sidelines in his wetsuit.

“The Liberal Democrats would reverse Brexit and drag us back to the arguments of the past. The only effective opposition to Keir Starmer comes from the Conservatives; only we will stand up for the British people and focus on what matters to them.”

Reform MP Lee Anderson added: "Ed Davey needs to shut up. We voted to leave the single market to become an independent sovereign nation.

"I think all those silly stunts have affected his behaviour. He's like the pub bore sat in the corner, saying the same old thing to anyone that will listen to him. It's quite sad really, he needs to retire."

The Lib Dems have set out a long-term plan to rejoin the EU, which includes steps such as returning to the single market.

The party won 72 seats at the General Election with a campaign largely focused on the NHS and sewage crisis.

They were reduced to just 11 MPs at the 2019 election after standing on a vow to stop Brexit.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who backed Remain, has said he intends to secure a new post-Brexit deal with the EU but has insisted he will not rejoin the single market or customs union.

In his conference speech, Sir Ed also vowed to fight Labour's decision to axe winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners in his closing speech to the party's autumn conference.

He told the gathering in Brighton: "So we will cut through the Government’s doom and gloom with our ambition for our country.

"We will scrutinise their plans carefully, and strive to improve them. And we will oppose them if we think they’ve got it wrong.

"Like their decision to strip the winter fuel payment from millions of struggling pensioners, just when energy bills are set to rise again this winter."