Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable early today addressed protestors in Manchester who are marching against the government’s approach to Brexit negotiations.

Vince Cable said:

“We are in Manchester because the Conservative Party are here and we want them to hear our voices – to tell Theresa May and Boris Johnson that we are not ‘citizens of nowhere’, but people who are proud to be British, and proud to be European.

“We must tell the government what is at stake here.

“Take the great research institutions in Manchester, such as the National Graphene Institute developing a new wonder material. Or the Human Brain Project. Or Cancer Research – each have received €1bn in EU funding, the largest research commitments the EU has ever made: what is their future?

“We must tell Theresa May to stop treating EU citizens like hostages in the negotiations. There are 130,000 EU citizens in Greater Manchester alone. The same goes for British citizens elsewhere in the EU.  The right to remain, and the protection of UK and European law, must be guaranteed. And not in 2019, or 2021, or never, but now.

“Insecurity is driving away valuable, and valued, EU workers.

“If the government is unable to deliver the deal the Brexiteers promised, the people are entitled to a vote on it – including the option of an exit from Brexit. That is why, as Liberal Democrats, we demand a vote on the final deal, and will work with decent minded people of all parties to delver it.”