Liberal Democrats Uk Politicians

"[On standing as a parliamentary candidate] I have lived in London for more than 20 years. As soon as a by-election comes up in London, I would definitely consider it."

"[On drug legalisation] I've actually never taken a drug in my life, or even drunk alcohol, but I still don’t sit here as the fun police. I very clearly believe people should be able to do what they want to do. It just wasn’t for me.""

"Whether we're talking about the cost of living crisis, whether we're talking about the genocide in Gaza, or generally the feeling that they were voted in on one word, change - and they've not offered a whole lot of it. The Green Party are here, and we're ready to give them that change."

"[On the 2026 Gorton and Denton by-election] I'll be totally honest, when I heard Andy Burnham wasn't being selected, I punched the air and I thought it's very probable we can win this. I wasn't complacent but I knew we could do it."

"Layla Moran: I believe that women are women, so if that person was a trans woman, I absolutely would. I just do not see the issue. As for whether they have a beard, which was one of the hon. Gentleman’s earlier comments, I dare say that some women have beards. There are all sorts of reasons why our bodies react differently to hormones. There are many forms of the human body. I see someone in their soul and as a person. I do not really care whether they have a male body."

"Trump has clearly not spoken to a single Palestinian about this plan. Gaza is our land. Palestine is our home. Peace cannot come at the cost of our country. I urge the UK and the whole international community to resist him. Recognise Palestine now, before it's too late."

"[A] woman is a gender, it is a way to self-identify and there are lots of genders. There is male and that is biological. There is female, which is also biological. A woman is a gender identity which is more akin to being a man. Those are the opposites and then there is also non-binary, which is people who don't identify with either."

"David T. C. Davies [then Conservative MP for Monmouth]: I hear what the hon. Lady is saying. May I bluntly ask her whether she would be happy sharing a changing room with somebody who was born male and had a male body?"

"Asgardia, the world's first space nation. It's the world’s first truly functioning digital democracy. Every 15-year-old would love to say that they're chair of parliament for a space nation. By the age of 59, I am. I hope that wherever my grandfather is now, he'll look down and be proud of me trying to create a good politics for outer space."

"I have a big problem with asteroids [...] And so has the rest of the human race. Unless we do something to stop it, sooner or later an impact with an asteroid or a comet will lead to the end of most life on Earth."

"We are seeing the increase of unemployment throughout the industrial world, and it is a problem for which we still have no real answer."

"We are going to fight to save the party and by God we think we can. We are going to start fighting for a Labour Party worthy of the name."

"There are other reasons to be worried. One is the increasingly anti-parliamentarian rhetoric in which Benn engages. When he speaks about the primacy of the activists, he virtually parrots Lenin. He speaks a language which despises the ordinary party worker, again Lenin-like. The supremacy of party and activist is a central Leninist tenet, and Shirley believes she has read more Lenin and Marx than Benn has. She thinks he does not really know what he is saying. Also, that he is to some extent being used by people much harder than he is: Maynard-type, Richardson-type, Militant sympathisers."

"There can be a Fascism of the Left as well as Fascism of the Right."

"I continue to believe that the best opportunity we have to advance our socialist objectives lies in forging the closest possible links with our fellow socialists and trade unions across the Channel."

"I...thought it a good idea to run through my speech with her, which I did, and she said it was more or less all right... She merely asked for a change at the end where I referred to a possible revival of Liberal and Social Democratic Britain. She said, 'Couldn't you use small letters and leave out the "and" – "liberal social democratic Britain"?' Thinking that if Paris was worth a Mass, Shirley was certainly worth an 'and' (and a lower case) I decided to do so, after which we rang off on terms of great amity. She said she was sure we would all be together in six months or so."

"Recently I was in Berwick Street, Soho, where I often work, when a man said to me outside a studio: "I'll never forgive you for what you did to our grammar schools." The man looked extremely respectable and I said to him: "What did you say?" And he said: "I'll never forgive you for what you did to our grammar schools, and neither will my wife." I was suddenly very irritated with him: "What are you talking about, you silly bugger, what have I done to grammar schools?" My aggression obviously startled him, for he looked at me rather more carefully, cleared his throat and said, "I do beg your pardon, I thought you were Shirley Williams," and he went off muttering."

"David has had the idea that the voters to try and win are defecting Tories... I personally have always held that we must try to replace the Labour Party."

"Shirley is, without doubt, the most reactionary person I know."

"There was a feeling of tremendous dedication in the air, a feeling that we didn't care what happened, this is the way we were going to vote, we were going to put our names on the line... I think it was the beginning of the ultimate split in the Labour Party into an SDP and a Labour Party, and that was, when I look back on it, really where it all began."

"Shirley is surrounded by a beatific light that shields her from the harm and criticism which would be heaped on ordinary people."

"Bill and I were much more of the Labour ethos than probably David or Roy were... It seemed much more a whole life that was going and I guess that we were more reluctant to face the fact that probably the Labour Party was by that time irrecoverable."

"I had always said that when I could see the holes in the hands and feet of Jesus myself then I would consider believing. It was very much a standard line – I wouldn't take anything on belief, I wanted to see the evidence. On that hillside I looked up at the crucifix and Our Lord was there with the holes in his hands and his feet and in that instant – I wouldn’t say I believed, I wouldn’t say I decided to start believing – in that instant, I knew. I knew that I had been looking all these years without seeing Christ crucified. There he was in front of me and I then knew that God and Jesus Christ were true. My life has been upside down ever since. All my original views were turned upside down. It has cost me quite a few friendships and has probably cost me a political career but I cannot un-know what I now know."

"I could not in good conscience vote for a party that thinks protecting the most vulnerable people in society, those who are yet to be born, issues around euthanasia, other pro-life issues and indeed generally people who have a faith and want to practice it, I couldn't vote for a party that thinks that is somehow incompatible with the modern world."

"Did he not appear to you to be a public man of no little courage, no little candour and no little ability."

"It is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done"

"This [ending EU migration rules] will hugely increase the damage cause by a no-deal Brexit"

"It would be ludicrous if the government, in what appears to be a zealous fixation on reducing migration at all costs, pulled us out of the EEA without due consideration of the security that these deals provide to British pensioners in Europe."

"People want an end to this, and the only way you can stop Brexit in a democratic exercise like a general election is to say you would revoke."

"I am frequently frustrated by the EU and will always argue the case for reform to make it more decentralised and more accountable, but when it comes to a decision about being in or out I am clear that we have to be in, making the case for reform rather than walking away."

"We need to become a political home to pro-EU liberal Tories and pro-EU liberal and social democrat Labour MPs and voters."

"We discussed whether Article 50 can be revoked, and my conclusion is that if there is the political will, it would be possible to do so."

"The war on drugs has been a catastrophic failure... We criminalise thousands of people, blighting their careers ... When people buy cannabis from criminals, they have no idea what they are buying."

"It seems completely wrong for an unelected prime minister to enforce a deal on the British people that neither the 52%, nor the 48% voted for. You might be somebody who voted wanting there to be a points' based [immigration] system. What are you going to do if the government forces something on you that doesn't address that? Likewise on tariffs, likewise on a whole range of issues. It would be totally wrong, however you voted on 23 June, for this government to enforce on the British people a plan that nobody signed up to - that would undermine democracy massively."

"We've already seen in the Windrush scandal how the Conservatives' hostile environment checks can destroy the lives of people who have every right to be in the UK. The government's chaotic approach to Brexit risks a repeat of that scandal for EU citizens."

"The Liberal Democrats have a plan. We know what we want and we know where we want to take our country. When Theresa May does agree a deal with the EU, we want the people to decide."

"Aggressive. Nationalistic. Anti-Nato. Anti-EU. It is the post-war internationalist consensus unravelling in real time. Winston Churchill's vision for a world that achieves peace through trade, common values and shared endeavour evaporating before our eyes."

"If we trusted the people to vote for our departure then we must trust the people to vote for our destination."

"It is entirely unacceptable that in 2019 women and girls are still paying more than men for basic products, such as razors and deodorant. Products marketed at women are on average considerably more expensive than those marketed at men. Often the only difference is the colour, yet this unfair price gap will have a significant financial impact on a woman over the course of her life. My bill would remove this outdated and sexist tax on women once and for all."

"[A UK Statistics Authority statement saying that claims that leaving the European Union could save Britain £350m a week are potentially misleading is] a damning indictment of the Leave campaign and yet another example of their desperate attempts to mislead people in this referendum campaign."

"I’ve been clear from the start that I will not look to frustrate the will of the people of this area. I did not vote with my party who opposed the triggering of Article 50 and I will fight to help get the best Brexit deal for Britain."

"[Ending EU migration rules will] do nothing to reassure the hospitals that are already seeing record numbers of EU nurses leaving, or the companies struggling to recruit the staff they need"

"Plenty of my mates voted Leave, and I can tell you that the majority of those who did vote Leave are utterly appalled that Farage, Le Pen and their ilk now seek to claim the result as a victory for their hateful brand of intolerance, racism and insularity. Britain is better than that."

"Since the Brexit negotiations begun there's a third emotion I've been feeling - embarrassment. Embarrassment at our country's leaders. Embarrassment for Great Britain."

"There are more than a million British people living in Spain. There are hundreds of thousands of British people living in France. In fact there are tens of thousands of people living in almost every EU country and if we were to pull up the drawbridge on the English Channel, the truth is British people wouldn't be able to come and go because they'd take action against us."

"The EU referendum result could be hijacked by forces of racism, intolerance and hate"

"Membership of a terrorist group is a serious crime, as is encouraging or supporting terrorism, but Shamima Begum should face justice for those crimes in the UK."

"Voting for Britain's departure from the EU is not the same as voting for a destination"

"[On the election of Donald Trump on 5 November] This is a dark, dark day for people around the globe. The world's largest economy and most powerful military will be led by a dangerous, destructive demagogue."

"People have been misled by lackadaisical politicians, playing games, who had campaigned for years to leave the EU - but hadn't bothered to come up with a plan about what to do if it actually happened"