Jo Swinson criticised by former Lib Dem deputy for making 'wrong decisions' after losing seat

Jo Swinson has been attacked by a former Lib Dem deputy leader after she was forced to resign over losing her constituency seat in the General Election.

Ms Swinson, 39, lost East Dunbartonshire to the SNP's Amy Callaghan by 149 votes.

Following the defeat, Ms Swinson announced in an emotional speech that she would resign from the party as leader, just months after she was elected in a leadership contest.

But following her announcement on Friday, the former leader has come under fire from various Liberal Democrats, who said she consistently made “wrong decisions”.

Former Lib Dem deputy Simon Hughes told Sky News: “Every single decision taken since Jo became the leader and Ed (Davey) became the deputy leader has been the wrong decision.

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“Every strategic decision. They decided to go for revoking Article 50, having ignored the referendum. They decided that they could argue that that was because we might be a majority government. Incredible, incredible - nobody believed it.

“Jo led the campaign on the basis that she could be the prime minister - incredible. Nobody believed it. She was almost unknown.”

However, on Friday afternoon, Mr Hughes apologised for making “personal criticisms”.

He tweeted: “From Oct 2018 I have played no active or public part in party politics, except on internal issues.

“Today I criticised recent LD strategy decisions & stand by these criticisms of my party’s leadership. But some of my criticisms were too personal & I apologise.”