Among political observers, Farron is widely seen as being of
left-leaning political position. In a September 2016 interview, he identified the Liberal Democrats under his leadership as being
centre-left.
Policy as Liberal Democrat leader In August 2015, Farron identified seven campaigning priorities for the Liberal Democrats. These were
rural affairs, the
EU referendum,
mental health,
immigration,
civil liberties, the
green economy, and
housing.
Welfare Farron was one of only two Liberal Democrat MPs to vote against the
under-occupancy penalty (also known as the bedroom tax) in 2012. Referring to
Nick Clegg's earlier pledge not to raise fees—and the previous long-standing Liberal Democrat policy of abolishing them—he said: "Integrity is important. You must not only keep your word but be seen to keep your word. You can say no."
Migration He was the first senior British politician to back the EU proposal for a quota to take in
refugees during the Mediterranean crisis. He called for the UK to accept up to 60,000 non-EU refugees to help with the influx. He attended the Refugee solidarity march in London in September 2015 and gave the opening speech.
Representation of women and minorities Farron said in June 2015 that Lib Dem members of parliament were "too male and too pale", so at least half of the party's target seats would be given women candidates and 10 per cent would have black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) candidates. Farron's appointment of party spokespeople was applauded for its diversity, with twelve women and ten men given such positions. Women also took high-ranking roles, such as the defence and economics portfolios.
LGBT rights In 2007, he voted against the
Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations, which for the first time imposed a general restriction on businesses discriminating against people on the grounds of sexual orientation. In May 2015, regarding a court ruling which found that a Belfast bakery had acted unlawfully in refusing to carry out an order for a cake in support of gay marriage, Farron said that "it's a shame it ended up in court" and "it's important that you stand up for people's rights to have their conscience," but "if you’re providing a service, that’s the key thing – you need to do so without prejudice, without discrimination against those who come through your door." He voted in favour of allowing marriage between two people of same sex at the
second reading of the 2013
Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, but he voted not to timetable the debate on the Bill, which would have made it much more difficult to pass had the House of Commons agreed with his position, over concerns of the impact the "spousal veto" could have on trans people. He was absent for the vote for gay marriage on the
third reading of the Bill. In 2014, he voted in favour of extending the right to same sex marriage to Armed Forces personnel outside the United Kingdom. He held a 90.4% rating on the issue of same sex marriage in September 2015, and 83.9% in February 2023, according to the website
Public Whip. In the build-up to the 2017 General Election he repeated similar lines in another Channel 4 News television interview, before
Nigel Evans asked him in Parliament whether he thought being gay was a sin, to which he replied, "I do not" and said that he was "very proud" to have supported his party's efforts to introduce gay marriage. Later, in a BBC interview, he further stated that he did not believe "gay sex" was a sin. Despite this,
Lord Paddick resigned from his post as home affairs spokesperson in June 2017 "over concerns about the leader's views on various issues". In 2018, Farron expressed regret over his previous assertions that he did not consider homosexual sex to be sinful, saying he felt under pressure from his party which led him to "foolishly and wrongly" make a statement "that was not right". Farron's handling of questions regarding LGBT rights and the sinfulness of homosexuality have been heavily criticised by
LGBT+ Liberal Democrats, as has his continued association with
anti-gay evangelical groups, which has been seen as a "lack of care" to the LGBT community. Former head of the LGBT+ Liberal Democrats, Chris Cooke, made unsubstantiated complaints to the party about Farron's personal conduct when "drunk", and admitted that he "made up a story to cause trouble" following his suspension over Twitter comments directed at Conservative MP
Anna Soubry.
European Union Despite describing himself as "a bit of a
Eurosceptic", Farron strongly supported Britain's membership of the
European Union, but criticised
David Cameron's renegotiation as "about appealing to careerist Tory MPs, who were selected by Europhobic party members, to persuade them to vote to remain". In June 2016, Farron stated following the
United Kingdom European Union membership referendum in which 51.89% of the voters voted to
leave the EU that if the Liberal Democrats were elected in the next parliamentary election, they would not follow through with triggering
Article 50 of the
Treaty on European Union and
leaving the EU but would instead keep the UK in the European Union. In 2017, Farron spoke out against the government's proposed plan to
return to the traditional blue British passport. He criticised the move publicly as part of "ever increasing list of the cost of Brexit" and held the position that the plan was "a completely superficial expenditure which could have been spent on our hospitals and our schools."
Saudi Arabia Farron has criticised Britain's close ties with
Saudi Arabia. In 2015 he said: "It is time to shine a light onto the shady corners of our relationship with Saudi Arabia. It is time we stood up for civil liberties, human rights and not turn a blind eye because the
House of Saud are our 'allies'."
Cannabis regulation He supports the complete legalisation of
marijuana for both medical and recreational purpose, saying in 2016: "I personally believe the war on drugs is over. We must move from making this a legal issue to one of health." == Personal life ==