South Lincolnshire Liberal Democrats

As you know, Vince has now formally announced his resignation, and, as your President, I am triggering the process for the election of his successor as Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

I'd like to take a moment to thank Vince for all he's done since he was elected leader in 2017. He's been a steadying influence when it was most needed - and that's led to us gaining new MEPs (exact number to be announce tomorrow evening!) and almost 800 councillors. Thank you, Vince.

Last night, the British people finished voting in the European elections. The fallout is there for all to see, with the Prime Minister finally conceding this morning that she has reached the end of the road.

Our campaigning over the last three years has kept the cause of remaining in the European Union alive, and I now believe we have a strong chance of stopping Brexit. When the votes are counted on Sunday, I expect us to do well.

This morning, Theresa May conceded defeat and announced her resignation as Prime Minister.

This will undoubtedly be spun by hardline Tories as a failure on her behalf. They'll tell us that a true Brexit believer would have been able to do it.

But a new Prime Minister won't solve Brexit. Neither will a General Election. Leaving the EU without a deal will cause our country untold harm and widen the gap between the richest and poorest in society.

That's that - polls for the European elections are now closed!

We've fought so, so hard - I'm incredibly proud of each and every single one of our candidates, campaigners and voters. 💛

In the last 6 weeks, we've:

🔶 Fought a large-scale campaign that went toe-to-toe with Labour, the Conservatives and Nigel Farage's Brexit Party
🔶 Delivered over 12 million letters
🔶 Reached over 2.5 million people via social media - on polling day alone
🔶 Knocked on 225,000 doors
🔶 Nearly tripled our standing in the polls - from 7% to 20%:

We've had an amazing campaign - and now it's nearly over. You've got until 10 tonight to get out and cast your vote for the Liberal Democrats to stop Brexit!

We're the biggest, strongest Remain party - and we're on course for an amazing result. These European elections are your chance to send a message to the pro-Brexit Labour and Conservative parties - we just want it to stop.

The opinion polls all tell the same story: the Liberal Democrats are the biggest and strongest Remain party in the East of England. Use your vote today to support the Lib Dems and stop the Brexit Party gaining a further seat.

Remember how it felt watching the Lib Dem gains roll in after the local elections on Thursday 2nd May? Let's make another night to remember by electing Liberal Democrat MEPs to the European Parliament today. Visit www.libdems.org.uk/events to find out where you can help, or contact your local team.

Gove clutching at straws with new plastic strategy Responding to the Government's proposals to bring in new controls on plastic items, Liberal Democrat DEFRA spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said: "It is good to see that the Government finally conceded that there is a need to get serious about plastic pollution, but this plan is not ambitious enough to save our seas. "We need to tackle our throw-away culture, and this new government strategy doesn't come close to taking the steps we need to take. If we are waiting a year to bring in these changes, 4,700 million straws and 1,800 million plastic cotton buds will be thrown away before we get real about tackling it. "Instead of reheating old press releases about taking action in a years time, they should take action now to protect our environment for future generations."

Over the last three weeks our fantastic team of Liberal Democrat candidates have been out and about across the East of England, talking to voters. Marie Goldman was up early one morning to speak to voters at Chelmsford station. She found many former Labour voters say they will back the Liberal Democrats this time.

Tomorrow, my first ever vote is going to be a vote for the Liberal Democrats to stop Brexit.

Just in case the 'Bollocks to Brexit' campaign slogan didn't make it clear enough; every vote for the Lib Dems is a vote to Stop Brexit and remain in the European Union. They're the biggest remain party and were the first to call for a People's Vote back in 2016.