Showing posts with label Ed Davey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ed Davey. Show all posts

Saturday, November 09, 2024

Ed Davey Urges Starmer to ‘Trump-proof’ UK with Closer European Ties

THE GUARDIAN: Lib Dem leader says government should work with Trump but be prepared for him to act on security and trade threats

Ed Davey has urged Keir Starmer to “Trump-proof” the UK by urgently seeking closer European cooperation over military aid for Ukraine and economic ties, after the US president-elect’s threats about security and trade wars.

The Liberal Democrat leader, whose party is the third biggest in the House of Commons, argued that while the UK government should seek to work with a Donald Trump administration, it should also be as prepared as possible if he were to abandon Ukraine or impose sweeping tariffs.

“Yes, we can work with him,” Davey said. “Of course we should, and it may well be that we can, but it would be irresponsible not to take the measures in a diplomatic way, defensive way, that would make our national security and our economy Trump-proof. » | Peter Walker, Senior political correspondent | Saturday, November 9, 2024

Friday, July 05, 2024

Lib Dems Oust Four Cabinet Ministers as They Win Record Number of Seats

THE GUARDIAN: With all but a handful of results declared, party’s tally stands at 71, beating its previous record of 62 in 2005

The Liberal Democrats have taken a record number of seats for the party in the general election.

Ed Davey’s party has ousted four cabinet ministers and denied the Tories success in constituencies once held by former prime ministers David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

With 641 results declared, the Lib Dems’ tally stood at 71, beating the party’s previous record of 62 under Charles Kennedy’s leadership in 2005.

In early results, the Lib Dems ousted Gillian Keegan, the education secretary – her Chichester seat had a 21,500 majority in 2019 and had been held by the Conservatives for a century – and Alex Chalk, the justice secretary.

By Friday morning, the party had won 71 seats, with only a handful to be declared making it their highest total since 1923, when they were just the Liberal party led by Herbert Asquith.

Speaking after winning his Kingston and Surbiton seat again by more than 17,000 votes, Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said many voters had turned to his party for the first time to be their “champions”. » | Peter Walker, Senior political correspondent | Friday, July 5, 2024

Sunday, September 24, 2023

Lib Dems to Attack Tories on NHS and Pensions Triple Lock, Ed Davey Says

THE OBSERVER: The leader says his party is focusing on the NHS and protecting pensions to woo Conservatives in rural heartlands

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey at the Barton Hills nature reserve in June 2023 while campaigning in next month’s Mid Bedfordshire byelection. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian

The Liberal Democrats are planning to open two fronts against the Conservatives in their traditional heartlands, with a campaign focused on NHS waiting lists and a pledge to protect the pensions triple lock.

In an interview with the Observer, Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said that the scale of support his party had been receiving from lifelong Tory voters meant that there was now no Tory seat in either the “blue wall” or the Conservatives’ rural heartlands that was safe.

The Lib Dems are in an increasingly optimistic mood as their annual conference takes place this week after a string of byelection wins, including in Chesham and Amersham, and Tiverton and Honiton. There is also mounting concern among Tories in constituencies where the Lib Dems are in second place.

Davey’s party is now honing an election campaign designed to win over liberal, pro-remain Tory voters as well as rural communities that have been out of reach to the Lib Dems for years. He said that, unlike in the run-up to previous elections, concern about the NHS and GP waiting times was a “common thread” across all the voters it was targeting. » | Michael Savage, Policy Editor | Sunday, September 2023

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Saturday, September 18, 2021

The Guardian View of Lib Dem Strategy: Bringing Down the ‘Blue Wall’

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: Boris Johnson’s record of incompetence and dishonesty has given Sir Ed Davey an opportunity

‘History, geography and demography are on Ed Davey’s side.’ Photograph: House of Commons/PA

Electoral history is full of upsets, but few are as stunning as the Liberal Democrats’ byelection victory in Chesham and Amersham, deep in the heart of Tory Britain. In June there was a 25% swing against the ruling party and a study by the UK in a Changing Europe thinktank this week calculated that more than 30 Tory MPs would be vulnerable if such a revolt were repeated. With their party conference starting on Friday, the Liberal Democrats are determined to make that win just the first step in bringing down the Conservatives’ “blue wall”.

While there are causes for optimism, one ought to be realistic. The Lib Dems have 12 MPs. Sir Ed Davey is the party’s fourth leader in six years. He will not be telling delegates this weekend to go back to their constituencies and “prepare for government”. But there are good reasons to believe something is happening. The local election results in May signalled Lib Dem gains at the expense of the Conservatives.

Boris Johnson’s authoritarian and populist Tory party, designed to appeal to a new coalition of voters, has alienated large parts of its traditional base. When our correspondent canvassed with Lib Dems in the leafy Surrey marginal seat of the deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, not a single voter professed loyalty to the Tory MP. Voters can punish those who take them for granted. » | Editorial | Friday, September 17, 2021