Catherine Bearder MEP writes…Thanks to all for a positive campaign

This has been a tough week for us all. It's followed the hard work in the build-up to voting day, the exhaustion of the day itself and the dreadful night as the results saw the collapse of the political and structural certainties we have all come to understand.

Firstly I want to give a huge thanks to all those up and down the country who have worked their socks off campaigning to keep the UK in the EU. Ours was a positive, passionate and patriotic campaign. It was always going to be a tough fight, trying to reverse in a matter of weeks the anti-EU propaganda and anti-establishment mood that built up over many years. But the Lib Dems stood firm, and our thousands of activists can be proud that when the time came, they stood up for the values we hold dear and for what we believe was firmly in the national interest.

On my return to Brussels on Monday, the overwhelming mood amongst my fellow MEPs was not one of anger, but of huge shock and sadness. Sad that a country that they love and admire could be so led astray by the lies and deception of the Leave campaign, and sad for the millions of young people who overwhelmingly voted to remain but who are set to be deprived of the opportunities EU membership brings. There was a spontaneous sign written on the windows of the European Parliament that simply said: "We will miss you." This is the real European Union. Not faceless bureaucrats, but real people from all over Europe working together, celebrating our differences and eccentricities and doing our best to respond to big common challenges. That's a vision that millions of people in the UK share. And it's one we must stand up for in the difficult months and years ahead.

So as we watch with open-mouthed horror at the way both the Conservative and Labour parties deal with the fallout of the vote, we need to be clear about our position. I'm delighted that Tim Farron has done just that. We are, and have always been an outward-looking, internationalist pro-European party. Nothing has changed. We believe we are stronger when we work with our neighbours to build peace and sensible trading relationships across the continent and the wider world. I was with Tim this week when he met the seven other Liberal Prime ministers, leaders of our sister parties and MEPs from across the continent. He passionately laid out our position to them and it was welcomed with a heartfelt round of applause.

But we haven't left yet. My job as an MEP goes on, I'm still working on tackling wildlife crime and trafficking in the EU and representing the interests of my constituents. As the circumstances change, and the empty promises of the Leave campaign begin to unravel, people will be calling for a renewed democratic mandate to decide exactly what our relationship with the EU should look like. In my view this should be in the form of a General Election. It is certain there is no mandate for the Conservatives to continue to rule as if nothing has happened when they have changed the face of our politics and their leader in such a cavalier fashion.

How we mend this country - its political system, divisions and frightening rise in xenophobic attacks - while dealing with years of economic turmoil and uncertainty is still to be worked through. But I am proud to be a member of the party that is growing, recognises the tasks ahead and is ready to roll up its sleeves to get on with that task.

Three cheers for the Liberal Democrats!

* Catherine Bearder is the Liberal Democrat MEP for the South East