LibDems chief eyes new party of opposition

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democart leader, has said he would look seriously at a credible new party or alliance to oppose the Tories, saying he would “write nothing off”.
Farron said his party, which has just eight MPs since the 2015 general election, could not sit back and defend its tribal interests at a time of national crisis.
“We have a historic opportunity to find a polar alternative to the Conservatives, which could make the 21st century one which is a lot more progressive than the 20th was,” he told the Independent.
Politicians in both the Labour and Conservative parties sat in what Farron called “completely and utterly false and uncomfortable coalitions” including the hard left to centrists in Labour and English nationalists to liberals and pragmatists in the Tories.
“In any other democracy in Europe those people wouldn’t be in the same party as one another — and quite a few would be in the same party as us,” he said.
Farron said that any move depended on the outcome of the Labour leadership contest, adding that he did not see a “happy ending” for the party.
Stephen Kinnock, the influential backbench Labour MP, vociferously denied reports in the Mail on Sunday that he was in discussions about forming a new party or alliance.
“There can be no question of any split in the Labour party. Its values and purpose are in my blood and I am striving to ensure that we have a leader who is a persuader not just a protester,” he said.
Owen Smith, the Labour leadership candidate, said a split in his party would be a catastrophe. “I will never let the Labour party split on my watch,” he told Sky News.
“For me it is the Labour party or nothing. No one can drive me out of this party and no one could persuade me there is any alternative for working people other than Labour.
“But those of us in this generation have got to fight to preserve that because it is in jeopardy today.”
His remarks come after the Green MP Caroline Lucas and Natalie Bennett, the party’s leader, wrote to the leaders of centre-left parties in Britain and urged them to club together in the event of a snap election following the appointment of Theresa May as prime minister. The letter, which was sent to Jeremy Corbyn, Farron and Leanne Wood, leader of Plaid Cymru, said: “There is an urgent need to make a stand against any austerity and the slashing of environmental legislation, human and workers’ rights that may come with Brexit.”
On Friday Farron’s party, which suffered huge losses at the general election in 2015, hailed its best night of local election results “in a decade”, after the LibDems picked up four council seats in town hall by-elections across the country, taking seats off Ukip and the Conservatives in Newquay and North Norfolk respectively. Gains were also made at the expense of independent candidates in Cornwall and Wiltshire.