JO Swinson has left the door open to challenging for the Liberal Democrat leadership once Sir Vince Cable steps down.
The current deputy leader, 38, also made clear the party had to change to attract new voters but that there was no need for a new centrist part as it already existed in the Lib Dems.
Asked if she was considering running for the leadership, the MP for East Dunbartonshire, who has hitherto suggested she is presently not interested in the leadership role, replied: "There's no vacancy at the moment. Vince has set out the things that he wants to do before he stands down." But then she added: "At the time that Vince does stand down, then absolutely I'll take a view at that point."
Ms Swinson, a former Business Minister in the Lib-Con Coalition government, also dismissed talk of a new centrist party, saying: "We've got the ingredients to be able to challenge the other parties, we've got the infrastructure of parties right across the country in terms of local associations, candidates, the whole idea of a centrist party gets talked about endlessly but doesn't really get off the ground.
"You don't need to set up a new party because the Liberal Democrats are here but we recognise that we have to change to make it easier for people that perhaps haven't looked at us before to look again at the Lib Dems."
Meanwhile, Sir Vince, 75, rejected claims he was "running out of road" as the Lib Dem leader as he again refused to set a firm resignation date; most pundits believe it will be next year.
Pressed on being at the helm at the 2022 General Election, he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: "2022 is a long time off; it's improbable I will be leading us then."
In other conference developments the party:
*agreed to give migrant spouses an entitlement to benefits from their first day in the UK - without any form of means-testing;
*backed a new Geneva Convention to cover modern warfare and
*called for a £100 billion "citizens fund" to spread Britain's resources more evenly and formed over 10 years through a series of wealth tax reforms and via asset sales, including the taxpayer's stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel