Image source, Reuters

The Liberal Democrats would "maintain a credible nuclear deterrent" if they won power, leader Tim Farron is to say.

"Our nuclear deterrent keeps us at the top table in this post-Brexit world," he will tell supporters in Portsmouth.

But Mr Farron will advocate replacing the current system of continuous-at-sea deterrence with more irregular patrolling patterns.

He is also expected to accuse Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of being "weak and dangerous" on defence matters.

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Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

It is an attempt to provide some sort of clarity for voters about where the party stands on Brexit, and to try and draw a line under the issue on which they have been taking a pummelling for months because of the ambiguity in their position.

They have been pummelled by the Tories for not being committed enough to Brexit.

They have been pummelled by the Liberal Democrats for not being tough enough in fighting Mrs May’s Brexit.

Today, we got their statement. And interestingly it has come ahead of their manifesto – it’s almost an attempt to clear the decks. To defuse the Brexit issue. So they can get a hearing in this election.

Because if they cannot get off the hook of being in no man’s land over Brexit, it’s hard to see how they are going to be able to put over other policies.

Sir Keir said: "Freedom of movement will have to end as we leave the EU.

"And we negotiate on the understanding the rules on immigration will have to change.

"That has to be the approach to the single market and the Customs Union."

Sir Keir warned of a "reckless Tory Brexit".

"She (Theresa May) will isolate us from our nearest partners and strike trade deals with any country that will talk to us – no matter the consequences for workers’ rights, environmental protections or our place in the world.

"The only way to stop that and to build a fairer Britain is to elect a Labour Government.

"A Labour Government who will reset our approach to Brexit, rebuild relations with the EU and make sure that jobs, the economy and rights come first.

"We have just over six weeks to make that case and make it we will."

Sir Keir said that any devolved powers brought back from Brussels will go to the relevent devolved administrations and there will be "no Whitehall power grab".

"A Labour approach to Brexit will be part of a radical extension of devolution, and will help bring the country together," he said.

Sir Keir Starmer said it was "shameful" that the prime minister rejected attempts to resolve the situation of EU citizens in the UK before Article 50 was triggered.

"They are part of our society. And they should not be used as bargaining chips," he said. 

Westminster Hour
Radio 4's Westminster Hour

Prime Minister Theresa May last week called for a snap election. They don't come around that often, and when they do the outcome isn't always predictable.

The Westminster Hour's Sam Macrory speaks to Lord Hennessy, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Lord Armstrong, Dame Margaret Beckett, Lord Donoughue and Deborah Mattinson about Ted Heath's ill-fated snap election of February 1974, Harold Wilson's October follow-up and the snap election that never was in 2007.

The EU is "by far and away our most important trading partner", Sir Keir said.

"It is extraordinary that we have a prime minister who has given up on the Single Market and the Customs Union even before negotiations have begun and it was received very badly by our EU partners.

"She has said repeatedly no deal is better than a bad deal… Labour are very clear that no deal is the worst possible deal."

He said the party would "reject no deal as a viable option".

Sir Keir said: "We will on day one unilaterally guarantee the rights of EU citizens in this country.

"And of course fight for the rights of UK citizens across Europe."

He said a Labour government would not “sideline” Parliament in Brexit negotiations and would scrap the Great Repeal Bill.

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would like "a Brexit that brings the country together, radically devolves power and supports all regions and nations of the UK".

Sir Keir Starmer said there was going to be a "very clear choice on the ballot paper" of "two visions of Brexit" - one of which would be Labour's, "which is going to be based on our values... of internationism. Outward looking. A belief that we achieve more together than we do alone".

He added: "We should face challenges with other countries. We accept that things will have to change."

But there does not have to be a “reckless Tory Brexit”.

MP for Darlington Jenny Chapman opens Labour's event.

She said most of her constituency voted Leave and the party would not "block Brexit".

"I will continue to vote according to that decision that they took," she said.

"We want a Brexit that works for all of us. For the better off, the not so better off… for the north as well as the south.

"We are the only party that knows what that vote was all about.”

Labour's shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer is due to make his party's first major policy statement of the election campaign shortly.