Tim Farron: ‘I was more Eurosceptic than Liz Truss when she was Lib Dem’

Former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said he was “more Eurosceptic” than Liz Truss when she was a party member.

The newly-promoted foreign secretary was handed the portfolio of Brexit minister after David Frost stepped down, reigniting a discussion on her pro-EU past.

Independent councillor Andy Oddy reacted to the reminder, highlighting Truss used to be in the Lib Dems before 1996 and described her parents as “to the left of Labour”.

“What chance Truss is a Trojan Horse,” Oddy added.

Reminder Liz Truss campaigned for Remaining in the EU

During the referendum campaign, Truss said she wanted the UK to stay in the EU as it is in “Britain’s economic interest” and it means we can “focus on vital economic and social reform at home”.

In May 2016, she said leaving the bloc would have a negative impact on the hospitality industry and the wider economy, and make UK people poorer.

She told the Food and Drink Federation at the time: “I do think it’s in all of our interests to communicate the real impact on the ground; the real impact this would have on jobs, livelihoods because what we know is less trade would mean fewer investments, it would mean fewer jobs and that would feed through to people’s incomes.

“And that just doesn’t affect me and you in this room, that affects everyone in the overall economy. So even if you’re in a company that doesn’t export, the company that does export will be buying less of your services and I think that’s a message we really need to get across in the closing weeks of this campaign.”

How Truss argued her changed stance on Brexit

She added: “But I have great faith in the British people; I think the British people are sensible people [and] they understand fundamentally that, economically, Britain will be better off staying in a reformed EU.”

The following month, Truss hit out at the Leave campaign, saying they could not “name one country we would get a better trade deal with if we left the EU.”

But after being appointed as chief secretary to the Treasury by former prime minister Theresa May, Truss switched her position on Brexit, arguing in October 2017 that she had “also seen the opportunities” of leaving the EU.

“I believed there would be massive economic problems but those haven’t come to pass and I’ve also seen the opportunities,” she said.

She continued: “The other thing is, it was a big moment on 23 June when British people voted to leave and it was an expression about what kind of country we wanted to be and I think that has changed the debate in this country as well.”

Truss will now be in charge of sorting out the Northern Ireland protocol, which has been under intense debate by both unionists and EU officials. Upon being appointed as Brexit Secretary, Truss said she was “pleased” to have been tasked with remaining negotiations.

She is currently regarded as one of the most likely people to replace prime minister Boris Johnson should he be forced out of his position, amid growing Tory discontent towards their leader and several controversies under his leadership.

Andra Maciuca

Andra is a multilingual, award-winning NQJ senior journalist and the UK’s first Romanian representing co-nationals in Britain and reporting on EU citizens for national news. She is interested in UK, EU and Eastern European affairs, EU citizens in the UK, British citizens in the EU, environmental reporting, ethical consumerism and corporate social responsibility. She has contributed articles to VICE, Ethical Consumer and The New European and likes writing poetry, singing, songwriting and playing instruments. She studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield and has a Masters in International Business and Management from the University of Manchester. Follow her on: