<P> Central themes of the Liberal Democrat campaign were an offer of a second referendum on any eventual Brexit deal and a desire for the UK to stay in the single market . The party reportedly targeted seats which had voted to remain in the EU, such as Twickenham, Oxford West and Abingdon, and Vauxhall . Bob Marshall - Andrews, a Labour MP from 1997 to 2010, announced he would support the Liberal Democrats . </P> <P> The party reported a surge in membership after the election was called, passing 100,000 on 24 April, having grown by 12,500 in the preceding week . The party also reported raising £ 500,000 in donations in the first 48 hours after May's announcement of an early election . </P> <P> An early issue raised in the campaign was Tim Farron's views, as a Christian, regarding gay sex and LGBT rights . After declining to state whether he thought gay sex was a sin, Farron affirmed that he believed neither being gay nor having gay sex are sinful . </P> <P> The party proposed raising income tax by 1p to fund the NHS, and maintaining the triple - lock on the state pension . The Liberal Democrats also promised an additional £ 7 billion to protect per - pupil funding in education; they said it would be partly funded by remaining in the EU single market . The party pledged on 11 May to accept 50,000 refugees from Syria over five years, with Farron saying that the £ 4.3 billion costs would over time be repaid in taxes by those refugees that settle in Britain . </P>

Who is running in the general election 2017