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Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Tory sidekick’s spectacular memory loss
The Lib Dems were more than willing partners in Tory austerity policies that brought Britain to its knees and their present offer is an attempt to hoodwink the gullible among the electorate
COUNTING ON SHORT MEMORIES: Jo Swinson (centre) and Lib Dems education spokesperson Layla Moran meet Bournemouth College marine technology students

WHAT does the Lib Dem’s 2010-2015 coalition with the Tories tell us about the party? The Lib Dems say they were trying to blunt the Tory axe, defending people from their worst cuts. But is this true?

Confronted with her own votes for benefit cuts during the Tory-Lib Dem coalition on the election BBC Question Time Special, Jo Swinson apologised, saying “we did not get everything right.”

Swinson has apologised before. On becoming Lib Dem leader in 2018, she said “We lost too many arguments” with the Tories because “when they fought dirty, we were too nice.”

But was Swinson and the Lib Dem support for austerity a “mistake”? Did Swinson “fight” and “argue” with the Tories on cuts?

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