Lib Dem leader Vince Cable hits '˜oligarchs' to move past Brexit

The Liberal Democrats will not be a single-issue anti-Brexit party, Sir Vince Cable has said in a conference speech promising to tackle inequality with bold new policies including property taxes on second homes and foreign buyers.

Liberal Democrats leader Sir Vince Cable is congratulated by Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats Willie Rennie after making his keynote speech at his party's annual conference at the Bournemouth International Centre. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday September 19, 2017. See PA story POLITICS LibDems. Photo credit should read: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

In a bid to cement his party’s support among the young Remain voters of Generation Rent, Mr Cable promised to crack down on “oligarchs and speculators in our housing market” and explore replacing tuition fees with a graduate tax. In his first conference address, the new Lib Dem leader sought to reclaim his party’s legacy in power, highlighting his experience in cabinet and claiming he would be a “credible prime minister”.

With his party yet to recover from an electoral drubbing afterthe coalition with the Conservatives, he set a target of matching the 23 per cent vote share they won in 2010.

He praised his predecessor Tim Farron for giving the Lib Dems “a clear identity as the only real, undiluted pro-European party,” but told party activists they had to confront crises in housing, the environment and economic inequality to have a hope of power.

He said Lib Dems would seek to “unite a very divided country” after campaigning for a “vote on the facts” of the UK’s Brexit settlement that will offer the chance of staying in the EU on existing terms.

“I want our party to lead the fight against Brexit,” he said, “but we should not be consumed by Brexit. We are not a single-issue party. We’re not Ukip in reverse.”

After just two months as leader and ten weeks after regaining his seat in parliament, the speech was light on policy detail, but Mr Cable said the Lib Dems would “once again become a workshop for new ideas”.

He promised “fierce tax penalties” on overseas investors blamed for snapping up new housing developments and driving up property prices in London and across the UK. “We must end the stranglehold of oligarchs and speculators in our housing market,” Mr Cable said.

“I want to see fierce tax penalties on the acquisition of property for investment purposes, by overseas residents.

“And I want to see rural communities protected from the blight of absentee second home ownership, which devastates local economies and pushes young people away from the places where they grew up. Homes are to live in; they’re not pieces on a Monopoly board.”