Jo Swinson branded 'patronising' by two bees

Jo Swinson’s election campaign hasn’t had the “flying” start she had hoped for.

While the Liberal Democrat leader was once “buzzing” with positivity, her party is dwindling in the polls and voters haven’t seemed to warm to her.

There’s even been reports that Swinson is in danger of losing her own seat to the SNP, forcing the leader to devote more time to her personal campaign rather than looking at the bigger picture.

Now the Queen Bee of the Lib Dems appears to have met her match, in the form of, err, two people dressed as bumblebees.

The bumblebees, who were a part of climate protest movement Extinction Rebellion, took the opportunity to confront the leader on her record.

When the protestors surrounded her electric powered campaign bus, one said:

I find your campaigning work a little bit patronising.

Swinson responded that her party's plans were “ambitious but realistic", saying that she did not oppose the protest.

I welcome that the climate emergency is a really important issue in this election.

We can have a discussion about how quickly we can get there – that’s a good discussion to be having, a genuine debate about how quickly we can deal with the climate crisis.

Extinction Rebellion is attempting to pressure all political parties to adopt the Three Demands Bill, which advocates for a formal declaration of a a climate “emergency” and would force the government to legally commit to reducing carbon emissions to net zero by 2025. The Liberal Democrat’s target for reducing carbon to net zero is 2050, which could surely “bee” more ambitious.

If there’s one rule in politics, it’s never annoy the bees – otherwise you’re bound to get stung eventually.

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