Jo Swinson: NOT the answer to your question

 Jo Swinson was elected leader of the LibDems earlier this year. You may not know much about her record and that of the LibDems. Here’s some of what you need to know. 

The LibDems were in coalition with the Tories from 2010-15. Swinson voted with the Tory whip 849 times from 2010-15, more often than Michael Gove (700) and Jeremy Hunt (723).  

Swinson was rewarded by becoming Business Minister under a Tory-dominated government from 2012-15. She was an architect of austerity. She:-

·         Voted for increasing the rate of VAT

·         Voted for a reduction in spending on welfare benefits

·         Voted for raising England’s undergraduate tuition fee cap to £9,000 per year, contrary to an explicit LibDem election pledge

·         Voted to reduce central government funding of local government

·         Warned against raising the Minimum Wage

·         Scrapped Education Maintenance Allowance for 16-19 year olds

·         Voted for the bedroom tax

·         Voted for cuts in disability payments

·         Defended Tory Tribunal fees

·         Voted to allow privatisation of NHS services

·         Voted against a mansion tax

·         Voted against raising taxes on those with incomes over £150,000 

Campaigned “We must have a monument to Maggie” (Thatcher)

Jo Swinson and the LibDems - no thanks