THE Liberal Democrats have a better opportunity now to “totally break the mould of British politics” than their predecessors of the 1980s, who tried and failed, Jo Swinson, has claimed.

In an exclusive interview with The Herald, the 39-year-old Scot, who is campaigning to be her party’s next leader, describes how:

*the Lib Dems have an historic opportunity to make gains and even form the next Government;

*Brexit has turned British politics into “complete madness”;

*it is “such a tragedy for the country” that the official opposition is led by Brexiteer Jeremy Corbyn and

*Nicola Sturgeon does not have a mandate for another independence referendum while Scotland breaking away from Britain would lead to “chaos”.

READ MORE: Jo for PM? Jo Swinson says Britain's future cannot be left in hands of populist Labour or Tory Brexiteers

As ballots drop in letterboxes and in-boxes from today in the leadership race that pits the favourite Ms Swinson against her colleague Sir Ed Davey, the former Energy Secretary in the Lib-Con coalition government, the East Dunbartonshire MP claims British politics is undergoing a transformation as Brexit has exposed a battle of values.

Asked if her party’s recent success in the European and English local elections were simply an illustration of the Lib Dems benefiting from a familiar protest vote against the two main parties, the former Business Minister argues something deeper is happening across society.

“Brexit and our relationship with the EU underpin what role we have in the world; how you look at society. The new faultline in British politics is not that left/right axis, which effectively the current two-party system is built on.

“We are now more about a liberal/authoritarian, open/closed society axis and that’s where, as a liberal party, we need to reach out to many liberal voters in the country. That’s why this has a deeper and longer lasting impact and why it should not be dismissed as a protest vote.”

Ms Swinson believes the Lib Dems are today facing an historic opportunity to change the face of British politics. She explains: "We have had in our history of the Liberal Democrats and predecessor parties various points at which it has been tantalising close to totally breaking the mould of British politics; during the 1980s.

“We have an even better opportunity now and that’s what we absolutely do need to grab hold of,” she declares.

But when asked if the Lib Dems with just a dozen MPs could possibly expect to increase their number by 300 to form the next Government, the deputy leader replies: “It is ambitious. I’m not under-estimating it at all. Politics is volatile…It is this volatility that gives me optimism. While there are no guarantees, there is an opportunity and that’s why I don’t set any limit on our ambitions.”

Asked again if she seriously believes the Lib Dems could beat both the Tories and Labour to Downing St, Ms Swinson replies: “Why not? Seriously, we are talking about the disintegration of the two-party system. We have four parties all hovering around 20 per cent in the opinion polls at the moment and I do believe there are millions of people out there who are crying out for an alternative.”

The Scottish MP admits securing another EU referendum is “not guaranteed” but is, she believes, “the best way out of this absolute mess”.

But asked if her demand for a People’s Vote on Brexit would legitimise the Nationalist demands for a second Scottish referendum, Ms Swinson is adamant: “No, because the SNP set out a 650-page White Paper of a detailed plan for independence; to their credit. I disagreed with it but it meant we had a debate about a particular vision of independence and that was comprehensively rejected. They don’t have a mandate for this.”

Ms Swinson says Brexit has shown breaking up is hard to do. "This is trying to uncouple 40 years of a Union, just imagine the chaos of trying to unpick 300 years of our shared institutions, heritage, culture, the history we have between Scotland and England. It demonstrates what those problems are. What I want to see is Scotland in the UK and the UK in the EU.

She adds: “The SNP have been banging the independence drum in recent years and they have been losing MSPs in the 2016 Scottish parliamentary election; they lost 21 MPs in 2017, just after Nicola Sturgeon said she wanted indyref2. So, the people are sending a pretty clear message.

“The majority view in Scotland is people want to stay in the UK and stay in the EU and it’s only the Liberal Democrats who are offering that.”