EU: The Liberal Democrats as the ‘Party of In’

Liberal Democrat Party President Tim Farron writes for the Huffington Post:

Whilst the Tories squabble over EU membership and Labour shy away from the subject completely, Lib Dems are united in saying that across Europe we are “better together”. We support an in/out referendum when the time is right and we campaign passionately for the UK to remain a member of the EU. But why are we the unambiguous “party of in”? Because to undermine EU membership, would be to threaten jobs across the UK and to risk our security in an uncertain world.

Over the next seven years, EU funding promises to pump billions of pounds of investment into our economy and create thousands of jobs across all regions of the UK. There will be long-term investment into our energy and transport infrastructure, which previous Labour and Conservative governments have overlooked. Potential projects include cross-border electricity interconnectors between Kent and Belgium and Ireland and Wales, which will help secure our electricity supply for years to come and promote the creation of a Europe-wide renewable energy grid.

Moreover, billions of pounds will be invested into research funding for our universities and companies which will boost efforts to develop our high tech industries and fight killer diseases.

Read Tim Farron’s piece about Europe in full here.