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New Lib Dem leader urges ‘exit from Brexit’

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London: Vince Cable was appointed leader of Britain’s pro-European Liberal Democrat party on Thursday, calling for an “exit from Brexit”.


The 74-year-old former minister and keen ballroom dancer was nominated without opposition by his colleagues in the centrist party, which has 12 seats in the 650-member House of Commons.


Cable, a former chief economist for energy giant Shell, is strongly opposed to Britain’s decision to leave the European Union and has warned it could damage the economy.


He repeated his party’s pledge to hold a second referendum once the terms of Brexit are clear, to either accept the deal the EU offers or stay in the 28-member bloc.


“At the end of the process, the public should have a choice,” he said. “I fear we’re heading for a disastrous outcome... What we need is an exit from Brexit.”


Britons voted by 52 per cent to end their membership of the EU in a referendum last year, and Prime Minister Theresa May began the two-year withdrawal process in March.


But Cable predicted that the economy would begin to suffer from the decision to cut ties with Britain’s largest trading partner.


Cable entered parliament as MP for the leafy London suburb of Twickenham in 1997, and is one of the best known Lib Dem MPs, recognisable by his trademark fedora hat.


Cable, who is also a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, was appointed business secretary when the party joined a coalition government led by Conservative prime minister David Cameron in 2010. — AFP


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