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Thursday 30 June 2016 9:07 am

More than 10,000 people have joined the Liberal Democrats since the EU referendum

By: Francesca Washtell

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At this stage, the Liberal Democrats may be the only party to be doing well out of last week's Brexit vote. 

More than 10,000 people have signed up to join the Lib Dems since the EU referendum result was announced last Friday, at a rate of more than one per minute. 

Leader Tim Farron was quick to rebrand the Lib Dems as the only party "fighting for [the UK's] European future", after the result was announced last Friday.  

Membership of Britain's former third party stood at around 60,500 before polling stations opened on Thursday – that's now surpassed 70,000, higher than the party's total number of members before the 2010 election. 

Read more: Almost 6,000 people have signed up to the Lib Dems post-Brexit vote

Before the coalition was announced, the Lib Dems had around 65,000 paid members, a figure which nosedived soon after the party's tie-up with the Conservatives. Before last year's General Election, it was closer to 45,000.

The party said it has attracted both Leave voters and young people, nearly 75 per cent of whom voted in favour of staying in Europe. 

"I don't blame those who were duped: I blame those who lied," Farron said in a statement yesterday. "If the Conservatives had a shred of decency, they would set about fixing the economy they broke. 

Read more: Britain will need an effective opposition

"Yet the chancellor shrugs that it is not his responsibility to have a Brexit plan – even though he and David Cameron were the brains behind this risky referendum – while Boris Johnson has sounded, perhaps more predictably, clueless. 

"People can also see the Labour leadership did not put their back into the fight – when history called they did not step up to the mark."

Since the referendum result the Labour Party has struggled with increasingly vicious infighting to oust Jeremy Corbyn and could split as a result, while the Conservatives have started readying for their own leadership competition. 

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