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Tag: Ed Davey

  • Ed Davey – 2021 Speech on Afghanistan

    Ed Davey – 2021 Speech on Afghanistan

    The speech made by Ed Davey, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, in the House of Commons on 18 August 2021.

    It is a genuine honour to follow the hon. Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Tom Tugendhat). I thank him, on behalf of the whole House and the whole country, not just for his powerful speech today but for his service and the service of men and women in our armed forces who showed his courage in Afghanistan. I agree with him wholeheartedly that if we are going to look forward, we need to work with our international partners in Europe and across the world. We need to forge new relationships and not be over-dependent on one ally, however important and powerful that ally is. The failure to do that—indeed, the backward steps that this Government have taken in that regard in recent years—is one of the reasons our nation is weaker today, and it has been for far too long.

    We are deeply proud of our armed forces, our diplomats and our aid workers who have done so much in Afghanistan, so it has been heartbreaking in the last few days to listen to the families, particularly of the 457 British soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice, asking the question “What was it all for?” and to listen to veterans remembering their comrades. Captain James Kayll, who made two tours of duty in Afghanistan, said on Sunday:

    “After years and years of incredibly hard work from remarkable armed services in the country, I don’t know how I could ever, ever look the parents of fallen soldiers in the eye and say that what they did was worth it.”

    Will the Prime Minister look our injured veterans and the families of the fallen in the eye and tell them it was worth it, after his foreign policy catastrophe?

    The American decision to withdraw was not just a mistake; it was an avoidable mistake, from President Trump’s flawed deal with the Taliban to President Biden’s decision to proceed—and to proceed in such a disastrous way. The human impact on the lives of millions of Afghans, especially women and refugees, is the most obvious and alarming consequence, but the impact on global politics and on Britain’s national security will be so negative that I fear this mistake will affect the lives of millions around the world for years to come.

    Coalition forces were in Afghanistan for the protection and security of American and British people just as much as for Afghans. For well over seven years, coalition forces have not been doing the vast bulk of the fighting; the Afghan army has. Like others, when I heard President Biden blame Afghans for not fighting for their country, I could not believe it. He showed no awareness that more than 69,000 members of the Afghan forces have been killed.

    I cannot hold President Biden to account in this House, but I can hold our own Government to account. Our Prime Minister and his Cabinet cannot escape their culpability for this disaster—for both the mistaken decision to withdraw, and how the withdrawal has turned into such a catastrophe. From the Prime Minister’s self-evident lack of influence and clout in Washington, to his negligent inability, yet again, to master his brief and plan properly for the withdrawal, today’s occupant of No. 10 has become a national liability.

    If the Prime Minister wants to dispel that growing view of him, let him answer the following questions. What role did the British Government play in the negotiations with the Taliban that led to President Trump’s flawed deal with them? Did the Prime Minister raise any concerns with President Biden about the wisdom of withdrawal from Afghanistan? If he did, what impact did he have in changing anything about President Biden’s policy? Either the Prime Minister has a close relationship with the US but failed to exploit it, or he has no close relationship and nothing to put in its place. Frankly, his foreign policy is a total disaster.

    On Britain’s withdrawal planning, will the Prime Minister explain why he so misjudged the situation in Afghanistan that he told the House back on 8 July:

    “I do not think that the Taliban are capable of victory by military means”?—[Official Report, 8 July 2021; Vol. 698, c. 1112.]

    The Prime Minister appears to have had no understanding of the security and defence situation in Afghanistan as recently as last month. Despite being warned in this House and elsewhere that the Taliban would move rapidly on Kabul, his failures, along with President Biden’s, have led directly to the crisis that is unfolding before our eyes.

    Afghans who have risked everything to help our soldiers and aid workers are now desperate for our help to escape. Refugees are fleeing in fear of their lives. Women and girls are seeing their futures stolen. Last night’s announcement that the Government are willing to take only 5,000 refugees in the next year utterly fails to respond to this crisis or to meet our obligations to so many Afghans.

    Finally, there is the frightening failure to achieve the aim of the whole mission: to keep British people safe from international terrorists trained in Taliban Afghanistan. Where is the worked-through strategy, internationally agreed, to prevent Afghanistan from returning to the vector of terrorism that it once was? There isn’t one. Despite the Government’s having 18 months to prepare, they have not prepared a counter-terrorism strategy with our allies. I guess that that is why this Prime Minister will not ever be able to look the families of the fallen in the eye.

  • Ed Davey – 2021 Speech on HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

    Ed Davey – 2021 Speech on HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

    The speech made by Ed Davey, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, in the House of Commons on 12 April 2021.

    Princess Anne said yesterday:

    “You know it is going to happen but you are never really ready.”

    That is a truth shared by so many grieving families. Most people know that their loved one is near the end of their life because they are old or very sick, but that does not mean that they can avoid the tidal wave of grief—that moment of finality. This year more than most so many families have faced that moment, so I am sure that the Princess Royal speaks for not just the Queen and the royal family but the whole country: you are never really ready.

    However, as people grieve, we can also say thank you— thank you to one of Britain’s greatest public servants of the last 100 years. As other party leaders have said, Prince Philip has been a rock in the life of our nation since his betrothal to our Queen, then the young Princess Elizabeth. Above all, he has always been her rock. After 73 years of marriage, it will be our Queen who feels this loss far more than anyone else. If anyone says that bereavement is easier when a loved one has lived a long life, I have to say that that is not my experience. So, ma’am, our hearts go out to you.

    Thankfully, there are so many wonderful memories to comfort the Queen and the nation. We have already heard about many of the Duke’s contributions to our public life. I would mention his role as president of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, for nearly 59 years. It was there that he helped to lead the major wave of British and global environmentalism and conservation, and where his commitment to British industry and design was so remarkable. As the Prime Minister said, it is fitting that his coffin will be carried in a specially adapted Land Rover that he himself designed.

    I spoke to the Prince briefly on two occasions many years ago, once when he came to my school and once when I went to his palace at Saint James’s, as one of the millions of young people lucky enough to have taken part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme. To be at the palace that day, I had hiked round Kinder Scout, camped in Snowdonia and got lost in the Cheviots. For the gold award, among much else, one has to learn a new skill. When the Duke came to my group, he asked us what new skill we had learnt. I told him proudly that I had learnt to drive. So the Duke asked, “With four or six horses?” He pretended to be surprised when I said, “No, Sir, a car.”

    I have spoken to several people in preparing my words today. Lady Ashdown, Jane, kindly shared her late, great husband’s experience of the Duke. As a former royal marine, Paddy bonded well with the longest ever serving captain general of the Royal Marines. The Duke said that no other politician had ever laid a wreath on Remembrance Sunday as well as Paddy did, with his royal marine heel-click. Paddy also wrote in his memoirs about a state banquet for the King of Malaysia. After dinner, the Duke was touring the room and came to speak to Paddy. Well briefed as always, he asked Paddy why he had learnt Malay. Paddy writes: “I told him I’d been in the Commando Brigade in Singapore as a bachelor and had discovered that in Malay

    “there was one word…which meant ‘Let’s take off our clothes and tell dirty stories’”,

    So how could I resist learning Malay? The Duke roared with laughter and followed up with some pretty salty jokes, including a very fruity one about wanting a pee in China. Much giggling.”

    A state banquet also features in an anecdote from the former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. He recalls how he went to a state banquet for the Spanish King, not in his own right but as the husband of Miriam González Durántez. At the reception, Nick explained to the Duke that was merely accompanying Miriam. The Duke replied: “I know the feeling.”

    There can be no doubt, for the Queen has said it herself, that the Duke was far more than a companion. He was a man who should be celebrated in his own right—for his courage, so evident in his war record; for his foresight, so marvellous in the championing of young people across the world; and for his determination to show real leadership on the environment. He was not, as he described himself,

    “a discredited Balkan prince of no particular merit or distinction”;

    he was special—a man who brought all his amazing European ancestry to the service of our country. Britain’s special monarchy has been made more special thanks to Prince Philip. As we thank him for his unique service, let us thank him above all for the wisdom, counsel, friendship and love he gave to our Queen.

  • Ed Davey – 2021 Speech on Sri Lanka

    Ed Davey – 2021 Speech on Sri Lanka

    The speech made by Ed Davey, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, in the House of Commons on 18 March 2021.

    I thank the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) for leading this debate. I am proud to have worked with her for many years on the APPG, standing up for justice and human rights for Tamil people. Over those years, we witnessed time and again Tamil people being harmed by the Sri Lankan Government and let down by the international community.

    Human rights are again under attack in Sri Lanka. Recent reports from numerous human rights organisations, as well as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, paint a disturbing picture. From the appalling treatment of Sri Lanka’s Muslim and Christian communities during covid, when the Sri Lankan Government for months prevented burials of their dead in the traditional manner, to the continuing human rights abuses against the Tamil population across the island, things are getting worse, as the international community wrings its hands.

    It is clear that domestic mechanisms for accountability in Sri Lanka have failed again in recent years; they cannot be relied on. An international mechanism has always been needed to enable allegations of genocide, war crimes and human rights abuses to be properly examined and investigated. Many of us had campaigned for such a mechanism for nearly 12 years since the end of the civil war. Eventually, at the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Sri Lankan Government signed up to a mechanism, albeit one involving significant compromise by those of us who felt it did not go far enough, and who did not trust the Sri Lankan Government to deliver.

    Sadly, time has proven us right. The Sri Lankans did not deliver on any of the promises made to the international community and then, last March, walked away totally. It is clear that the Sri Lankan Government will continue to deny, to delay and to evade. That is why we urgently need a new international solution.

    The 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council is currently under way, giving the UK the opportunity to demand accountability in Sri Lanka, but regrettably the draft resolution on Sri Lanka totally fails to rise to the challenge, even though the UK is a leader of the core group. As it stands, the draft resolution is too vague and lacks a robust commitment to international accountability mechanisms. Section 6 is simply far too weak. That is why Liberal Democrats continue to call on the UK Government to work with international partners to ensure a proper international, independent investigative mechanism to establish what is happening in Sri Lanka. There must be a robust international mechanism that ensures that evidence can be collected and files can be prepared for prosecution.

    The British Tamil community is growing frustrated at the lack of meaningful progress in finding justice, and I share that frustration. It is time for the UK to undertake bilateral actions to push for accountability. I have long called for an end to arms exports to Sri Lanka. For Sri Lanka to be listed as a human rights priority country in the Foreign Office’s own recent annual human rights report is preposterous, and arms exports are still not banned. The Government should look at Magnitsky-style sanctions against individuals involved in perpetrating human rights abuses.

    The truth is that Sri Lanka is part of the global struggle between the US and China. It is part of the geopolitics of our world, and it is time that democratic countries worked together to support the democratic and human rights of the Tamil people and stopped allowing the Sri Lankan Government to become increasingly under the influence of Beijing. It is time we stood up for the human rights of the Tamil people.

  • Ed Davey – 2021 Comments about Chinese New Year

    Ed Davey – 2021 Comments about Chinese New Year

    The comments made by Ed Davey, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, on 12 February 2021.

    This year we welcome The Year of the Ox – an animal known for its strength, diligence and hardworking nature. These are positive values to which we should all aspire to live our lives by.

    The New Year is usually a time of large family get-togethers. This year however, intimate, virtual celebrations will be the norm. I know the adjustment won’t be easy but let us keep doing our part to suppress this virus.

    As we welcome the New Year, we must also honour the immeasurable contributions of British Chinese communities to our country. Thank you to the generations who have helped build our country and made it the success it is today.

    Let us also recognise the hard work and sacrifice of those working on the frontline, the dedication of those looking after their families and the commitment of those supporting their local communities.

    Celebrations like this remind us of what makes Britain unique; the diversity of our nation, the rich mosaic of people, cultures and backgrounds who all come together to carry forward the work of making this a country we can be proud of.

    So, to everyone celebrating, I wish you happiness and good health in 2021. Xin Nian Kuai Le!

  • Ed Davey – 2021 Speech on Holocaust Memorial Day

    Ed Davey – 2021 Speech on Holocaust Memorial Day

    The speech made by Ed Davey, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, on 28 January 2021.

    I pay tribute to everyone who has spoken in this debate so far, not least the last very moving speech by the hon. Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart). I would like to start my contribution by reading a couple of lines from the memoir of Gerda Weissmann Klein, who was 18 when she was sent to the first of several concentration camps, Bolkenhain. She wrote:

    “Ilse, a childhood friend of mine, once found a raspberry in the concentration camp and carried it in her pocket all day to present to me that night on a leaf. Imagine a world in which your entire possession is one raspberry and you give it to your friend.”

    For me, those words simultaneously drive home the holocaust horrors, while exemplifying the compassion and generosity that existed even in those most awful conditions. It shows us that Ilse Kleinzahler, a young woman in a concentration camp with nothing in the world but a raspberry, could be the light in that unimaginable darkness.

    Years later, Gerda said:

    “I like to remember some of the things in camp, how people helped each other. I want to tell young people about that—that there was friendship and love and caring.”

    Like so many accounts from holocaust survivors, the story has a heartbreaking coda. Ilse died on a death march a week before Gerda was liberated. They were holding each other’s hand. We must never forget the atrocities of the holocaust—never—how Ilse and 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis and the inhumanity inflicted on humans by humans. We must remember, so that we try harder to stop it happening again, as it has, tragically, in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and elsewhere, as other colleagues have said. We must be vigilant in our opposition to hatred, discrimination and oppression and vigilant in defence of peace, respect and human rights.

    Let us also remember, as Mrs Klein does, the friendship, the love and the caring that existed even amidst all that horror. If those qualities can exist in a Nazi concentration camp in the middle of the holocaust, they can certainly exist now. No matter how difficult things are, how big our challenges may be or how dark the days might seem, we can still find those most human of qualities. We can still care for each other, we can still love each other and we can still be the light in the darkness.

  • Ed Davey – 2020 Speech on the Future Relationship with the EU Bill

    Ed Davey – 2020 Speech on the Future Relationship with the EU Bill

    The speech made by Ed Davey, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, in the House of Commons on 30 December 2020.

    Our country is gripped by two crises: Britain’s hospitals are overwhelmed and Britain’s economy is in the worst recession for 300 years. A responsible Government, faced with those crises for people’s health and jobs, would not pass this bad deal, for it will make British people poorer and British people less safe.

    This is not really a trade deal at all; it is a loss of trade deal. It is the first trade deal in history to put up barriers to trade. Is that really the Government’s answer to British businesses fearing for their futures and British workers fearing for their jobs? We were told that leaving the EU would cut red tape, but the deal represents the biggest increase in red tape in British history, with 23 new committees to oversee this new trade bureaucracy, 50,000 new customs officials and 400 million new forms. Some analysts estimate the cost of this new red-tape burden for British business at over £20 billion every year. This is not the frictionless trade that the Prime Minister promised.

    Jonathan Edwards

    I fully agree with the points that the right hon. Member is making. Is he concerned at reports that the lack of equivalence for sanitary and phytosanitary measures means that Welsh farmers will face more red tape exporting to the EU than New Zealand farmers?

    Ed Davey

    I completely agree with the hon. Gentleman; he is absolutely right. The more businesses see this, the more they will be very disappointed. These reels of red tape will put more jobs at risk at a time when so many are already being lost to covid, and all these new trade barriers will raise prices in the shops at a time when so many families are already struggling to make ends meet. From the failure to agree a good deal for Britain’s services sector—80% of our economy—to the failure to agree a stable deal that investors will trust, this is a lousy deal for Britain’s economic future.

    The Conservatives can no longer claim to be the party of business, and with this deal they can no longer claim to be the party of law and order, for our police will no longer have real-time, immediate access to critical European crime-fighting databases such as Schengen II. Such sources of key information about criminals and crimes are used every single day by our police; in one year alone, they are used over 600 million times, often in the heat of an investigation. Thanks to the Prime Minister’s deal, British police will lose that privileged access and criminals will escape.

    There are so many things wrong with this deal, from its failings on the environment to the broken promises for our young people on Erasmus, yet the irony is that, for a deal that is supposed to restore parliamentary sovereignty, our Parliament has been given only hours to scrutinise it while the European Parliament has days. And business has just days to adjust to this deal. The Liberal Democrats called on the Prime Minister to negotiate a grace period to help businesses adjust, forgetting, of course, that this Government no longer care about business.

    The Government leave us no choice but to vote against this deal today. Perhaps that will not surprise too many people—the Liberal Democrats are, after all, a proud pro-European party who fought hard against Brexit—but we have genuinely looked at this post-Brexit trade deal to assess whether it is a good basis for the future relationship between the UK and the EU, and it is not. To those who argue that a vote against this deal is a vote for no deal, I say this: the Liberal Democrats led the charge against no deal when this Prime Minister was selling the virtues of no deal.

    Today, the question is simple: is this a good deal for the British people? It is a deal that costs jobs, increases red tape, hits our service-based economy, undermines our police and damages our young people’s future. It is a bad deal, and the Liberal Democrats will vote against it.

  • Ed Davey – 2010 Speech at the Trading Standards Institute Annual Conference

    Ed Davey – 2010 Speech at the Trading Standards Institute Annual Conference

    The speech made by Ed Davey, the then Minister for Consumer Affairs, on 15 June 2010.

    Thank you Ron, for that introduction – and for inviting me to this conference – not least, as it gives me the chance to make my very first speech as your Minister. I’m grateful to so many of you for making the early slot – though I guess your professional curiosity may have got the better of you.

    A coalition Government? A Liberal Democrat Minister? Surely there must be some infringement of the Sale of Goods Act? Seriously, I’m actually very proud to be here, as Minister for Consumer Affairs.

    Because I believe what you do – what Trading Standards’ wider family does, whether it’s Citizen Advice or the OFT, Scambusters or Consumer Focus, or your many other partner organisations – what you do isn’t just important. It’s vital.

    Vital for consumers. Vital for business. Indeed, vital for the whole economy- for the recovery and beyond.

    I want to be straight with you today about the public spending challenges we must all face – and I want to provide you with a sense of what the Coalition holds in store for you.

    Yet I want to place on the record, right from the start, not just some warm words of thanks for your work, but a clear and unambiguous recognition that I believe you are part of the frontline of our economy.

    The problem in public life so often, is that when things work well, they go unnoticed. Unvalued. The fact that we are fortunate to live in a country where the essential plumbing of our market economy normally works okay just doesn’t make good newspaper copy.

    Whether it’s competition policy or consumer policy. Company law or insolvency law. Britain’s economic plumbing is actually amongst the best in the world.

    There may be exceptions. I’m told that recently there have been some problems – with the banks. Yet I’m leaving all that to Vince.

    But when it comes to consumer policy and the overall consumer framework, the UK scores highly when compared to the rest of the EU and the Anglo-Saxon world – and we should celebrate that.

    But before you all get too comfortable, my message today is certainly not that everything’s hunky dory, so we won’t be changing much. Far from it.

    Even without the financial pressures, there would have been an agenda of change.

    Let me give just three well-known illustrations of some drivers of change.

    Technology. Great work has already been done-and by many here- to grapple with the new challenges in the digital world but I’m sure no-one believes that e-Crime, for example, is sorted.

    Climate change. I believe that we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of how the climate change challenge will affect our daily lives, particularly when buying and selling goods and services.

    Globalisation. It’s not just that business is more global- it’s that crime- and serious organised crime – is more global. Counterfeit or dangerous goods. Fraud and money laundering. Drugs and human trafficking. All on a truly international scale.

    So age old questions face by generations of Trading Standards Officers and their colleagues have to be posed again in this new environment.

    How do we protect the most vulnerable – when the con man isn’t just knocking at the door, but phoning them up, using international direct email and emailing them too?

    How do we keep the local face and the local knowledge, yet share information and co-operate across agencies, across local authority boundaries and indeed national boundaries, so we can keep one step ahead of the villains?

    How do we minimise the regulation on businesses, striving hard to grow when we need their help to stop global warming?

    Talking to Ron Gainsford, your excellent CEO, here at TSI. Talking to Ted Forsyth, the excellent Chief Trading Standards Officer in the community I represent. I know your profession is addressing these issues. But I want you to be clear that these are our priorities too.

    Now over the next few weeks and months we will be more concrete in how such priorities will actually translate into policy over the next weeks and months to come. But I have no intention of rushing to re-invent the wheel.

    I am, for example, currently studying the results of the recent consumer landscape survey that officials have been undertaking. And thanks, by the way, to those of you who’ve played a role.

    And I’ve been reading something called a “Manifesto for Trading Standards”.

    It’s already clear that some significant consultation will need to take place this year or next, before we can finalise any serious reforms.

    So I hope today’s question and answer session can mark the start of a vital early dialogue between myself and you as a profession, to gather your ideas before any major changes are made.

    Of course there is one driver of change that threatens to derail considered policymaking, whether we like it or not. And that’s deficit reduction. So let me take that head on, as promised.

    Even under the last Government, I think it’s fair to say, Trading Standards was not a spending priority. I don’t have the sense that Trading Standards are a gold-plated service, even if they can still often be a golden standard.

    And yet, I don’t imagine anyone here seriously think that Trading Standards will be spared from shouldering its share of the pain of deficit reduction.

    The question is, for all of us – can we do more with less? Or, in some cases I guess, do the same with less.

    I don’t honestly believe that in services like yours a salami slicing approach is going to work anymore.

    So how can central Government, working with local authorities across the country, help to realise major efficiency savings – cuts – without jeopardising the core objectives of the vital service we are here to deliver?

    Well, I’m hoping that this conference can begin to answer such questions.

    I notice for example that you have one session on today’s programme entitled “How to halve the cost of a prosecution and double its chance of success”. I hope I can be sent the speaker’s notes.

    But I hope you as an Institute can develop your own thinking and best practice about how Trading Standards might deepen still further existing co-operation with other local regulatory services – both within and across local authority boundaries.

    The consumer landscape review has taken evidence already from examples of Trading Standards Departments experimenting with just that sort of rationalisation. As Minister, I need to hear your views, learn about what works and what doesn’t and understand how my Department can help you manage such challenging change.

    Now, if I were a cynic summing up my speech so far Conference, I’d say that the Minister began by telling us how important we are, didn’t tell us what he was going to do with us, and then asked us to come up with some major savings.

    But thankfully I’m not a cynic. Because I’m genuinely interested in working with you to find practical solutions to your issues.

    So let me list a few issues I’ve already asked my officials to look into as evidence of my intent to be your champion in Whitehall.

    First, could we grant the public, access to existing information, existing databases, held on prosecutions of rogue traders and other breaches of fair trading laws?

    This may not be straightforward.

    For example, I’m advised there are some key legal issues to consider before we can decide to make all or part of the Central Register for Convictions publicly accessible. But consider those issues we will.

    Better sharing of information both with the public and between enforcement agencies is something I want to focus on.

    Second, could we ensure that Trading Standards basic testing to combat under age sale does not require RIPA authorisation? While this is a Home Office lead, the advice I’ve received suggests the Home Office’s existing Code of Practice gives Trading Standards some reassurances. But perhaps the guidance could be clearer and more practical. Once again, I undertake, today, to work with TSI if your members continue to see a problem here.

    And third, can we do more to help you combat scamming, whether by letter, telephone or email, by taking measures at critical choke points of a scam like the transfer of funds to the scammer? I’ve asked officials to look at the main ways money is wired abroad in response to international scams, to see if we can work with the main payment companies involved so consumers can be identified and warned of dangers, before it is too late.

    These are just 3 small but practical examples – I’m sure in your questions you will come up with many more ideas.

    You see, in coalition politics, in the new politics, we’re already learning some important lessons.

    Look for where you can agree.

    Be honest where you disagree.

    And then work, in good faith, to come to solutions that take the best from all sides.

    Ron. Conference, I hope that’s exactly what we can do, together, for each other, And above all, for the public. For whom Trading Standards is such a force for good.

    So we don’t just preserve the excellence in Trading Standards in a difficult climate, but take that forward to new even higher levels.

    I’m looking forward to our joint task. Thank you.

  • Ed Davey – 2020 Speech to Liberal Democrat Party Conference

    Ed Davey – 2020 Speech to Liberal Democrat Party Conference

    The speech made by Ed Davey, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, on 28 September 2020.

    The challenge facing our country has rarely been so great.

    Families and whole communities fearing for their future – in the face of an invisible enemy.

    It’s natural and right that in such troubled times, people look to government for reassurance. Help. Leadership.

    Given the enormity of the threat to our country, it’s with deep regret and sadness that I must say: this Government and this Prime Minister have just not risen to this challenge.

    With unbelievable incompetence, this Conservative Government is failing our people, in one of our darkest hours.

    If you judged the UK’s response to this crisis solely on what the Government is doing, it would be easy to despair.

    But as I travel the country, listening to people…

    As I hear what they are doing to beat the threat of coronavirus – to support their neighbours, save their businesses, care for their relatives…

    As they share with me their dreams as well as their worries…

    As we all witness how NHS staff, carers and key workers have shown amazing resilience in the face of extraordinary challenges…

    I am far from downhearted. I am inspired.

    Take Anne and Bob – who own a fish and chip shop in Stockport and put me to work on a lunchtime shift a few weeks ago.

    They’d been planning to sell the business and enjoy a well-deserved retirement. Then COVID struck.

    Anne and Bob put retirement on hold, to lead their restaurant through the crisis. They put their staff and customers first, and worked harder than ever to save the business.

    They hope they’re past the worst now – and can pass the business on to their young manager, Jamie, who’d joined them aged 14, after struggling at school. This amazing couple had nurtured him and feel he is now ready to take over.
    Jamie and his partner have just moved house. They are expecting their first child. And his enthusiasm for taking the business forward, after 13 years working there, is uplifting.

    I hear stories like this, from people like Anne and Bob and Jamie, in every community I visit. And I am in awe of how hard people are fighting to prevent this disease from stealing their dreams.

    Coronavirus is causing enormous hardship and forcing all of us to make big changes. But it’s also showing the best of the British people.

    People’s resilience, kindness and hard work make me absolutely sure we can get through this.

    But it’s those qualities – demonstrated every day by people across Britain – that are in sharp contrast to how Government Ministers have responded to the pandemic.

    Just look how Boris Johnson refuses to take even the slightest responsibility for the chaos and harm his Government has caused.

    Their failure to get protective gear to frontline workers in hospitals and care homes?

    Not his fault.

    When Johnson’s chief adviser undermined public trust by breaking lockdown with his trips to Durham and Barnard Castle?

    Different rules, for him.

    When Johnson’s “world-beating” test-and-trace system turns into a shambles?

    Claims instead a huge success.

    When children’s entire futures were thrown into doubt by the summer’s results fiasco?

    Blame the civil servants.

    Blame Ofqual.

    Blame the teachers.

    Blame anyone but Boris Johnson.

    Johnson’s hero, Winston Churchill, said that the price of greatness is responsibility. It seems that’s a price this Prime Minister isn’t willing to pay.

    When I’ve listened to people who’ve lost loved ones to COVID, listened to the bereaved families our Prime Minister refuses even to meet…

    The public inquiry into the Government’s handling of COVID, that I first called for in April, could not be more urgent.

    And the public inquiry, when it comes, must look into one Government failure above all.

    Ministers’ abject failure to protect people in care homes. The elderly people. And the carers.

    From the lack of tests and PPE, to the lies about a “protective ring” around care homes, while people died in horrifying numbers.

    For this pandemic has reminded everyone of something Liberal Democrats have always understood: caring for people’s health doesn’t stop at the hospital exit, or the GP’s surgery door.

    You can only truly protect our NHS, if you protect our care homes too. You can only truly speak up for doctors and nurses, if in the same breath, you stand up for carers. For young carers and professional carers, paid and unpaid, in care homes and in people’s homes.

    This is personal for me. You see, I’ve been a carer for much of my life.

    First as a teenager, when I nursed my mum during her long battle against bone cancer. My dad had died when I was four. My mum was my whole world. So on one level, it was easy caring for mum: I loved her.

    But it was also incredibly tough. Taking her tumblers of morphine for her agonising pain, before going off to school. Coming home to look after her. Helping her on and off the toilet. Taking life, day by day. Because there was nothing else you could do.

    And at the end. Visiting her on a totally unsuitable dementia ward in my school uniform, alone by her bedside. When she died.

    I was a carer as a son. And then as a grandson: Organising the care for my Nanna, getting her into a good home, figuring out how we could afford it. Trying to make her last few years as comfortable as we could.

    And now, as a father. As Emily and I care for our son John every day.

    John is 12. He can’t walk by himself. He was 9 when he first managed to say “Daddy”. John needs 24/7 care – and probably always will. And that’s my biggest challenge: John will be on this planet long after Emily and I have gone.

    So we worry. No one can possibly love him like we do. Hold him like we hold him.

    And our fears are shared by so many parents. Many not as fortunate as Emily and me.

    So let me say this, to all of you who need care, to all of you who are carers, to the parents of disabled children, to the thousands of young people, caring for your mum or your dad.

    I understand what you’re going through.

    And I promise you this:

    I will be your voice. I will be the voice of the 9 million carers in our country.

    It’s you I’m fighting for.

    Just like we Liberal Democrats did in Government, when we fought to tackle the funding crisis in adult social care.

    Through the Dilnot Commission and the Care Act, we carefully stitched together a cross-party agreement, based on the same values that underpin our NHS. Only to see the Conservatives rip it up as soon as they could.

    So now, more than a million people miss out on the care support they need.

    With people stranded in hospital, unable to leave, as the follow-up care isn’t there. With the challenge passed back to the NHS, already struggling for cash.

    You see, if Ministers really care about the NHS, they need to care about care. The cross-party talks on social care – long promised by Boris Johnson – cannot wait any longer. The Covid crisis makes the need to fix social care more urgent, not less.

    So, today, our Health and Care Spokesperson Munira Wilson and I have invited the Government, the Labour Party, and leading care organisations to begin these talks in earnest and finally make the progress people deserve.

    And I’m proud that our party is now championing a universal basic income – because by far the largest group to benefit will be carers.

    I am determined that the Liberal Democrats will lead the way to a more caring society as we emerge from this pandemic.

    A society that cares for those whose jobs and businesses have been taken by coronavirus.

    Our economy was unfair enough before this. But we cannot allow the random unfairness of this pandemic to scar people’s lives, especially the young.

    We must stand together. Leaving no one behind.

    Employers in hard-hit sectors must be given more support, to prevent many more people losing their jobs. People excluded from the self-employed scheme must be given the help they desperately need.

    And Liberal Democrats: we must also lead the way to a new economy. One that’s fairer. And greener. An economy offering real hope and opportunity for everyone.

    This pandemic has already changed so much. The daily commute. The congested roads. The lunchtime sandwich. Home-working may have changed that forever.

    But as we weigh the positives of home-working – more time with the family. More time to care. With the negatives – too much isolation. Too many working with too little space.

    I want us to listen to people – to understand how they want their working lives to be. The Conservatives aren’t listening. Their answer is all about going back. Back to the office. Back to the old ways.

    I say: let’s do the future differently. Starting by finding out what people want.

    We can’t let Dominic Cummings – in his NASA-style Whitehall mission control – plan our future. No. The future will be shaped by people and businesses in every community across the UK.

    So as we listen to people, we must listen to people in business. Businesses that create jobs and opportunities for people across the UK. Businesses facing the COVID challenge. The Brexit challenge. The climate challenge.

    No one else is listening to them. So the Liberal Democrats will.

    And in partnership with business, let’s mould the new economy.

    So if there’s less demand for office space, let’s work with businesses to turn those buildings into sustainable, affordable homes to help solve the housing crisis.

    If there’s less demand for air travel – let’s switch investment from Heathrow’s doomed third runway into green zero-carbon flight, and save jobs in our aerospace sector.

    If there’s less demand for oil and gas, let’s work with industry to transition the UK into the world-leader in clean energy technologies – from hydrogen for heating to tidal for power.

    If you listen and work with business, you can build new green industries, with thousands of green jobs.

    I know, because I’ve done it.

    In government, we Liberal Democrats helped make the UK the world-leader in offshore wind. We brought green jobs to the UK’s nations and regions. Something the Tories said simply wasn’t possible.

    Like the Siemens factory in Hull, where they now produce the incredible 75-metre-long blades for offshore wind turbines. It has created more than 1,000 new jobs – in a city that once had the country’s highest unemployment. It has breathed new life into a dock, long after its original purpose died.

    Once, ships left Alexandra Dock full of coal, to be burnt in the dirty power stations of the past. Now, ships leave Alexandra Dock carrying wind turbines, to be installed in the clean power stations of the future.

    Liberal Democrats did that.

    By listening to business, and in partnership with business.

    And that’s how we can build the new green economy we need.

    But if we want to change the country’s future, we first have to change our party.

    It’s an incredibly humbling thing to be elected leader of the party I joined 30 years ago.

    I’d like to thank Layla Moran, for making the leadership campaign a positive one, full of ideas and energy.

    And it’s a huge privilege to follow in the footsteps of my personal hero, Paddy Ashdown. Of the great Charles Kennedy. And of my good friend, the wonderful Jo Swinson.

    Jo did our party proud. Parliament is so much poorer without her. But Jo leaves a fitting legacy: the first majority of women MPs in our parliamentary party, ever. And Jo, I want to follow your lead, and make our party the most diverse party in British politics.

    Because, my friends, we are right to take the knee, and support the Black Lives Matter movement. But unless we have more black members, more black Councillors. Unless we have black Liberal Democrat MPs. Can we truly say we are listening to Britain’s black communities as they demand a voice?

    Friends, we need to listen to everyone.

    I am proud of everything we stand for as a party and everything we have achieved together.

    The listening I’m talking about. The listening we need to do. It isn’t about changing our values.

    We will always be a proud Liberal party. Defending individuals. Nurturing community. Protecting civil liberties. Championing the environment.

    Patriotic. Internationalist. And yes, always pro-European.

    These values are why I love this party.

    But we have endured three deeply disappointing general elections, in five tough years. At the national level at least, too many people think we’re out of touch with what they want.

    We can’t fix this with a catchy new slogan. Or by fighting the same battles, in the same way. The answer is to listen to what people are really telling us. And to change.

    We know that people want a better future for themselves and their families. So let’s show them that the Liberal Democrats can build that better future. That we will help them get on in life.

    Let’s show that we’re a party that understands the worries that keep people up at night. That can deliver on the things that matter most to them.

    And let’s show that we stand for fairness. For the rights of every individual.

    But to do all this, we can’t just talk to ourselves. We can’t just speak for people like us.

    We have to represent the whole country, not just some people.

    We are not a think tank or a pressure group. We don’t exist merely to put forward ideas or espouse a set of principles – however noble they may be.

    We are a political party.

    If we want to help people get on, and build a fairer, greener, more caring future, we have to win.

    And that is why, next May, we must get more Liberal Democrats elected to councils across England, to the Assembly in London, to the Senedd in Wales and – crucially – to Parliament in Scotland.

    Elections often determine the future of our country, but these Scottish elections could well determine if our country has a future.

    Once again, the forces of nationalism threaten to tear our family of nations apart. So it is imperative that we get brilliant Liberal Democrat MSPs elected to Holyrood in May.

    To reject more division and instead put forward a positive partnership. To work for Scotland and work for a better United Kingdom.

    This is why we must change. So people choose positively to elect more Liberal Democrat MPs at the next General Election. To kick the Tories out of Government and Johnson out of Number 10. To restore compassion to our politics and justice to our society. To champion the values of liberty, equality and community. To tackle the climate emergency and build green jobs and opportunity for all.

    It’s only by listening…

    by rebuilding our connection to people in communities across the UK…

    by demonstrating that we are on their side, that we do want to help them get on…

    that we can win those elections and make a real difference to people’s lives.

    Only then can we guarantee Anne and Bob the dignity in retirement they deserve.

    Only then can we make sure that Jamie’s child grows up in a country of genuine opportunity.

    Only then can we give all disabled children and young carers real hope for the future.

    That is the mission now before us. So let’s get to it.

  • Ed Davey – 2020 Speech on Becoming Leader of the Liberal Democrats

    Ed Davey – 2020 Speech on Becoming Leader of the Liberal Democrats

    The speech made by Ed Davey, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, on 27 August 2020.

    I’d like to start by thanking my friend Layla Moran. Layla, you fought a passionate campaign, full of energy.

    Since becoming an MP, you have inspired so many people, particularly young people. Your future is bright and I look forward to you playing a big role in my team.

    To members of the Liberal Democrats, thank you for putting your faith in me and giving me the honour of leading a party I joined 30 years ago.

    And I want also to thank a whole host of people who’ve run this campaign – whether in party headquarters alongside the Returning Officer, or in my own amazing campaign team.

    The thousands of people who’ve volunteered time to campaign with me. Who’ve donated to my campaign. Who’ve championed our vision of a greener, fairer, more caring society.

    I’d particularly like to thank Claire Halliwell, my Campaign Manager. Claire, you’ve been fantastic.

    And of course Emily, my wife and our two beautiful children, John and Ellie. Thank you Emily for your amazing support, patience and love.

    I am sure I am speaking for many people when I say that – for all the stress and uncertainty of the last few months – one positive has been the chance to spend more time with our families. And so I’d like to thank Ellie in particular, for appearing as a surprise cameo in so many of my zoom calls and online hustings.

    I want to talk now about the future of the Liberal Democrats.

    I joined this party 30 years ago. I met Emily here. I have made so many good friends here.

    And with those friends, I have campaigned across our country, knocking on tens of thousands of doors, delivering hundreds of thousands of leaflets.

    The reason I have done all this is simple.

    I love our party.

    I believe in it.

    I stand for all the things the Liberal Democrats stand for:

    Social justice, political reform, equality and protecting our environment.

    I stand for fairness and for fighting to protect the rights of ordinary people.

    I’m determined our Party backs a Britain that works with other countries across the world for peace and prosperity.

    But, it is my love of our party that makes me recognise that we have to change.

    We have to wake up and smell the coffee.

    Nationally, our party has lost touch with too many voters.

    Yes, we are powerful advocates locally.

    Our campaigners listen to local people, work hard for communities and deliver results.

    But at the national level, we have to face the facts of three disappointing general election results.

    The truth is…

    Voters don’t believe that the Liberal Democrats want to help ordinary people get on in life.

    Voters don’t believe we share their values.

    And voters don’t believe we are on the side of people like them.

    Nationally, voters have been sending us a message.

    But we have not been listening. It is time for us to start listening.

    As leader I am telling you: I have got that message. I am listening now.

    Whether you’re from the North, South, or somewhere in between

    Whether you voted for Brexit or Remain, or just wanted the whole thing settled

    Whether you voted Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, SNP or Plaid

    My message for you is this:

    I will travel up and down our country to meet you.

    To hear about the things that matter most to you.

    Your problems and fears, your hopes and dreams.

    I will face up to uncomfortable truths.

    And I will make your concerns my own.

    Our country is going through one of the most extraordinary and difficult periods for generations.

    The challenge of Covid will affect our country and the world for decades to come.

    Millions of people are suffering.

    As Leader of the Liberal Democrats, I want to reach out to help you and your community get through this.

    Whether your concerns are your families’ health, your children’s education or your livelihood.

    I want to understand the new future you want after all this – and help to deliver it.

    So my job from today is to rebuild the Liberal Democrats to national relevance so we can deliver this future for you, for your family and for the people who need it the most.

    None of this is going to be easy.

    None of this is going to be straightforward.

    And none of it is going to be quick or simple to achieve.

    But I want the Liberal Democrats to represent the whole country, not just some people, and to stand for fairness and opportunity for all.

    That is my commitment to you as the new leader of the Liberal Democrats.

    The hard work starts today.

  • Ed Davey – 2020 Comments on a Caring Revolution

    Ed Davey – 2020 Comments on a Caring Revolution

    Below are the text of the comments made by Ed Davey, the acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats, on 12 June 2020.

    Coronavirus teaches many lessons. For me, one stands out: the importance of caring and carers – in care homes, supporting vulnerable people at home and millions of unpaid carers looking after loved ones.

    People who’ve never appreciated how the NHS and care sector needed to work more closely together have seen that all too clearly, with the tragedy of COVID care home deaths.

    As someone who’s a carer now, after being a carer in my teenage years, the need for our society to value caring and carers properly has always been a personal driver.

    My young carer experience began when I was 12. My Dad had died when I was four, so when Mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer, my brothers and I nursed her at home for three years.

    From looking after her personal care needs to cooking her food, from administering morphine for her pain to talking with her for hours, we were left to it, albeit thankfully with the help of family and neighbours. Still today too many young carers bear the burden alone, isolating them and affecting their education and life chances.

    Of course, people can end up with caring responsibilities at any age. Most unpaid carers are adult women, and people from our black and ethnic minority communities are disproportionately employed as carers on low incomes: issues of equality are firmly bound up with the caring revolution we need.

    A caring revolution isn’t only the right campaign, it’s smart politics too. Carers UK estimate there were around 9 million carers in the UK pre-COVID, and that as many as 4 million more people have become carers during the pandemic.

    So I’m determined Liberal Democrats offer far more to this huge group. I’m starting today by introducing a new Bill in the Commons to secure more flexible employment rights for carers, alongside my five-point plan for carers:

    Employers would have to make reasonable adjustments for carers – helping carers who wish to work to combine a job with caring.

    Carers Allowance would be boosted immediately to £75 a week – a 12% increase

    The amount carers can earn before losing out on Carers Allowance would rise from £128 a week to £160 a week

    Young carers would receive free travel on all public transport

    Carers would be made a protected characteristic in the Equality Act – securing equal rights and protections for carers in the workplace and beyond

    This would be only the start: we must build a caring society to stand the test of time.

    My 12-year-old son John has an undiagnosed neurological condition, meaning he can’t walk or talk properly. He needs care 24/7. As his condition isn’t degenerative, he’ll live far longer than my wife Emily or me. Our single greatest worry is how he will be cared for after we’ve gone. Huge numbers of parents live with similar anxieties.

    As Liberal Democrats, we must champion a more caring society that rewards the role carers play and face up to caring’s long term challenges.