Ed Davey MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 18 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I wish the Prime Minister a happy Christmas. I thank him for allowing the young carers choir to sing outside No. 10, and I hope that he and the staff enjoyed it. Our song is called “Love is Enough”, but the hard truth is that for many young carers and young adult carers, love is not enough. These amazing young people need real action to help them with the challenges that they face. In addition to the measures that the Prime Minister just talked about, will he support the Carers Trust’s young carers covenant, to ensure that, across local authorities, we give these young people all the support that they deserve?

• 18 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I join the Prime Minister in his praise and best wishes for our armed forces and emergency services, and I join others in wishing you, Mr Speaker, a happy Christmas, along with all the staff of the Commons and everyone across the House [Hon. Members: “Sing it!”] I will sing in a minute. I have had the great joy of spending time recently with some amazing young people from the Bath Philharmonia young carers choir. They are a brilliant example of the power of music to make a difference in young people’s lives. One member, Caitlyn, has even developed a special new project to spread the joy of music to young people in our schools and communities. Will the Prime Minister meet Caitlyn to hear more about her exciting project, and will he work with us and others to support music in our schools and communities?

• 11 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the Prime Minister for that reply and hope that we can continue to work on a cross-party basis regarding Britain’s role in securing peace and stability in the middle east. Moving on to another subject, British farmers are the best in the world, and that is because of our tradition of family farms, where from generation to generation a commitment to high-quality food, to our precious environment and to animal welfare is passed down. But family farms were let down badly by the last Conservative Government, with their botched transition to new payment schemes and their unfair trade deals with Australia and New Zealand, which have undercut British farmers. Now, many family farms feel that this Government’s Budget will be the final blow. Will the Prime Minister change course and recognise the vital role that British family farms play?

• 11 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  While Syrians are rejoicing at the overthrow of the brutal Assad regime, many people there and around the world are worried about what comes next, as indeed the Prime Minister said, with threats of extremism, ISIS terrorism and unsecured chemical weapons. Only an open political process can bring peace and stability, but that will require the full backing of the international community. Does the Prime Minister share my concern that President-elect Trump said about Syria: “The United States should have nothing to do with it”? If America steps away, will the Prime Minister step up and work with other allies to provide British leadership over Syria?

• 4 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I am disappointed in that reply and hope that the Prime Minister will reflect on Labour’s policy. Moving on to another pressing subject, more than 3 million people have been stuck on NHS waiting lists for more than 18 weeks. That is probably the worst, most appalling legacy of the last Conservative Government and it needs to be fixed. Does the Prime Minister accept that we will only get waiting lists down, and keep them down, if it is easier for everyone to see a GP when they need it? When he publishes his milestones tomorrow, will he include a guarantee with a timetable so that people will be able to see a GP within at least seven days, or 24 hours if it is urgent?

• 4 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I, for one, will be downloading the song by the hon. Member for Neath and Swansea East (Carolyn Harris), and I join the Prime Minister in his delight about it. I also join him in support for Mandy Damari, and our joint hope that we will see Emily and other hostages released as soon as possible. The Prime Minister has rightly spoken about the need to restore and rebuild the public’s trust in British politics. We believe a crucial part of that is reforming our electoral system to make it fairer and more proportional, and so do a majority of the British public. This House voted yesterday in favour of a Bill for electoral reform put forward by my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney). Will the Prime Minister make Government time available so we can consider that Bill about electoral reform and restore the public’s trust in our politics?

• 27 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  May I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks about the terrible impact of Storm Bert and all the flooding? Our thoughts are with all those affected, with thanks to our amazing emergency services. Christine’s father was told that he needed end of life care, but after a few days it was removed due to funding cuts. He was told that he would not get it, and he died a few weeks later in excruciating pain. Christine says that it was terrible to watch him suffer. Does the Prime Minister agree that, whatever the House decides on Friday, it is urgent that we improve access to high-quality end of life care? Will he make that a key focus of the 10-year NHS plan, and will he now commit to protect hospices from the national insurance rise?

• 27 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the Prime Minister for his reply. I hope that we will hear more from Ministers, particularly on hospices and national insurance, in the days to come. I turn to the cost of living crisis. On Friday, Ofgem said that energy bills will go up again in January, after last month’s 10% rise. Millions of people are really worried about how they will make ends meet this winter, not least hundreds of thousands of pensioners who are in poverty but above the pension credit limit, who will now lose winter fuel payments. With energy bills going up again, will the Prime Minister reconsider and restore winter fuel payments?

• 25 Nov 2024 · Speaker’s Statement · Hansard source

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  Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I was never on John Prescott’s Christmas card list, but I did have the interesting task of shadowing him in the early noughties for three years, and I felt like I got to know him. My respect for him grew, though I was never sure whether it was entirely reciprocated. I would occasionally tour the media studios with him, and on one occasion John was getting his make-up on and clearly had not realised that I was outside the door. He said to his aide, “Is that bloody Liberal here again?” We spoke more in later years, when I was Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, as John always retained a deep and well-informed interest in all things climate, with his significant, globally recognised role in securing the Kyoto climate treaty. The Government’s chief climate negotiator in my time, the brilliant but sadly departed Pete Betts, had also been John’s key negotiator at Kyoto. Pete would tell the story of how John’s sheer energy and staying power were crucial to the success of those negotiations, and how John would tour the negotiating rooms throughout the night, uttering the great phrase: “I’m walking. I’m talking.” Our paths also crossed in the great city of Kingston upon Hull, when we eventually managed to get Siemens to invest in a wind turbine manufacturing facility for offshore wind farms. There was a celebration on the day when the first sod was turned to build the factory, and the reception was held in what is called The Deep—a huge tourist attraction, which John had played a crucial role in making happen, down by the marina in Hull. The Deep is the UK’s home to several species of shark. As we walked around it, being instructed about sharks, we were reliably informed that sharks can be very friendly, and though he would never admit it in public, John was always very friendly to me. He was a trailblazer and an inspiration, even plunging into the Thames in a wetsuit to make an important point about water pollution —exactly the sort of savvy, effective campaigning that I for one admire. John will be missed by very many people, so on behalf of bloody Liberals everywhere, I send my heartfelt condolences to Pauline, John’s children and grandchildren, and all his family and many friends.

• 21 Nov 2024 · G20 and COP29 Summits · Hansard source

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  Mr Speaker, may I echo your words about the passing of John Prescott? He dedicated himself to serving people and his enormous influence will be felt long into the future, not just in this country but around the world, with his incredible achievement of securing the world’s first international agreement on climate change at Kyoto. Our thoughts are with his family and friends, and with those across the House, too. I thank the Prime Minister for his statement. I welcome his commitment at Baku to the new emissions targets. We support those targets. When will he set out an action plan to meet them? Many families across the country will be worried not just about climate change, but about an increasingly insecure world: the devastating conflict in the middle east; the actions of China, not least with the continuing imprisonment of Jimmy Lai; the war in Sudan, of which I was alarmed to see no mention in the G20 declaration; and on our own continent, where Putin’s forces continue to wage their illegal and outrageous war against the innocent people of Ukraine. On the middle east, we welcome the reiteration of the G20’s commitment to the two-state solution and the calls for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon. But with the United States once again vetoing a UN resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza, does the Prime Minister agree that now is the moment for the UK to recognise the independent state of Palestine? On Ukraine, we welcome the new approvals on long-range missiles. We must give our Ukrainian allies whatever they need to win this war. The reality is that that support should have been given sooner. Why has it taken the threat of a second Trump presidency for there to be action? This is a war for our security and for the values we hold dear. Does the Prime Minister agree that now is the moment for the UK to lead in Europe? Will the Prime Minister convene a summit of European leaders to seize the Russian assets which are at our fingertips? We must not and cannot look back at this moment and wonder whether we could have done more.

• 13 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  When it comes to fixing the crisis in the NHS that he has inherited, the Prime Minister has rightly recognised the need to improve access to GPs, but as is the case for my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine), GPs in my constituency are writing to tell me how worried they are about the national insurance hike’s impact on patient care. I listened very carefully to what the Prime Minister said to my hon. Friend, but I hope he will think again. Will he at least exempt GPs, community pharmacists and other health and care providers from that tax rise?

• 13 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I have to say, I think patients, GPs and others listening to that answer will want more reassurance, and will want it much more quickly. Turning to the war in Ukraine, a senior adviser to President-elect Trump, Donald Trump junior, has shared a post on Instagram declaring that soon, within the next few weeks, President Zelensky will “lose his allowance”. If the Trump Administration do withdraw support from our brave Ukrainian allies, will the UK and Europe step up to fill the gap? Will the Prime Minister seize frozen Russian assets—not just the interest, but the assets underlying it—so that we can fund a huge boost to the Ukrainian forces in their fight against Putin’s war machine?

• 6 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I join the Prime Minister in his comments about Remembrance Sunday. We must always remember the brave British men and women who gave their lives for our country. I also join him in welcoming the Conservative leader to her place, and congratulate her on becoming the first black leader of a UK-wide party—a major and historic achievement. President-elect Trump praised Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. He called it “genius”. He also said that he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to NATO allies, so what action is the Prime Minister taking to encourage a Trump presidency to change its mind? Otherwise, it is a huge threat to global security, and national security in the UK. Does the Prime Minister agree that, if the US will not oppose President Putin and support our brave Ukrainian allies, the UK must lead in Europe, so that together we do?

• 6 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I am grateful for the Prime Minister’s comments on Ukraine, but Donald Trump has also said that “trade wars are good”. He calls himself “Tariff Man”. People are really worried that Trump’s trade wars and tariffs will damage our economy, damage businesses, and hit the cost of living here in the UK. Given that, does the Prime Minister recognise that it is more urgent than ever that we support our British economy by getting rid of the damaging trade barriers with Europe put in place by the Conservatives?

• 30 Oct 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to follow the Chair of the Treasury Committee, the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Dame Meg Hillier), and I wish her all the best in her new role, especially given her promise to scrutinise this Budget very, very closely. I join her in noting that this is an historic day. This is the first Budget to be presented by a female Chancellor, and I congratulate the right hon. Member for Leeds West and Pudsey (Rachel Reeves). I am sure that she is blazing the trail for the women and girls who are watching our proceedings today. There can be no doubt about the enormous task facing the Chancellor. After years of chaos and decline under the Conservatives, their appalling economic legacy, set out so clearly in the figures today, is being felt by people across the United Kingdom. People were looking to this Budget for a clean break with those failures of the past few years, and for a sense of hope and urgency and the promise of a fair deal, but I fear that the Budget will not deliver all that. The Conservatives left behind an enormous mess in our NHS, but I am afraid it will not be fixed unless the Government fix social care, too. The cost of living crisis will not be solved by hitting families, pensioners, family farms and struggling small businesses, and our economy will not grow strongly again unless we repair our broken relationship with Europe. Liberal Democrats will continue to stand up for our constituents and press the Government to be far bolder and act much faster on people’s priorities. Having said that, let me recognise that there were some good things in the Budget. I welcome the Chancellor’s decision to move away from the Conservatives’ broken fiscal rules to allow the capital investment that our country so desperately needs. I was genuinely surprised that there was no recognition from the Leader of the Opposition of the difference between capital and current spending, which is at the heart of this change. I welcome the promise of full compensation for the victims of the contaminated blood scandal and the Horizon scandal, and I hope that that can be delivered quickly. I also welcome the extra investment in our NHS. Fixing the crisis in our NHS is literally a matter of life and death. It is also essential for growing our economy, by getting people off waiting lists and getting them fit and healthy and back into work. The Conservatives left the health service on its knees. We on the Liberal Democrat Benches have consistently argued for more investment across the NHS—in hospital buildings, extra GPs, cancer nurses, new radiotherapy machines and much more—so I am glad that the Government and the Chancellor have been listening. However, people have heard bold promises of extra GPs and new hospitals before. The Conservatives made similar promises on the NHS and then broke them, so what we need now is a guarantee that this Government will deliver. I can assure the Chancellor that Liberal Democrats will hold the Government to account on their NHS plans, and I hope that the Budget document sets out in full the answers to some obvious questions. When will the funding be in place for desperately needed hospital projects, and when will those projects be completed? When will the Government be able to guarantee that people can see a GP or an NHS dentist when they need one? When will all cancer patients be able to start treatment within the 62-day target and not have to wait for months? When will people know once more that when they call an ambulance it will be there within minutes, not hours? Above all, as I have said before, I worry that despite the welcome extra investment announced today, the Government will not be able to fix the NHS because they are ignoring the elephant in the NHS waiting room: the crisis in social care. We all know how bad it is. Hundreds of thousands of people are waiting for care, and many are stranded in hospital beds because the care is not in place for them to leave hospital. That is bad for them, bad for their loved ones and bad for the NHS. I am afraid that today’s announcement on social care just will not touch the sides. It is only a standstill in a crisis. Unless we finally tackle this problem and agree a long-term solution for social care, we will never end the crisis in our health service, so I urge the Government once again to start cross-party talks on care without further delay and to take action now. Any solution must involve paying care workers properly to fill the 130,000 care worker vacancies, so that elderly and disabled people can get the care they need. The Government’s plan for a fair pay agreement is a step in the right direction, but it is nowhere near enough, so will the Chancellor look at our plans for a special higher minimum wage for carers? And we must not forget the vital role of unpaid family carers—the heroes keeping the entire system afloat. I strongly welcome the Chancellor’s decision to raise the earnings limit for carer’s allowance. It is a good first step, but as she accepted in her speech, on its own it will not end the repayments scandal or fix the system. Will she confirm whether the earnings limit will, in future, be pegged to at least 16 hours a week at the minimum wage? Although I am glad that the review will look again at getting rid of the cliff edge for carer’s allowance and the earnings limit, I hope she and her colleagues will consider a broader review to give family carers the support they deserve. The Conservative cost of living crisis has hit family carers particularly hard, but they are not alone. Practically no one has been left untouched by rising bills, higher mortgage payments and soaring food prices. Our small businesses and the self-employed have experienced a crisis of their own, having had to deal with the pandemic and now spiking energy prices and other input costs. The Conservatives only added to that pain by hitting struggling families with stealth tax rises, by betraying pensioners when they broke the triple lock, and by raising national insurance for our small businesses. I welcome the increase in the national minimum wage as it addresses the cost of living, although I urge the Chancellor to extend this higher wage to apprentices, too. However, it is concerning to see the Chancellor repeat a number of the Conservatives’ past mistakes. Raising employers’ national insurance is a tax on jobs and people. The OBR report published today shows that the Budget will reduce real household incomes and worsen the health and care crisis by hitting thousands of small care providers. Hitting family homes with changes to inheritance tax will not help, and cutting winter fuel payments will leave millions of vulnerable pensioners worried sick this winter. Instead of adopting Liberal Democrat proposals to raise the money we need, such as by reversing Conservative tax cuts for the big banks or by asking the social media giants to pay a bit more, the Chancellor has chosen unfair tax hikes that will hurt small and medium-sized businesses, which are the engines of our economy. They have already paid too high a price for Conservative economic failures, and forcing them to pay even more simply is not right. Another Conservative mess that I fear this Budget will not begin to clean up is the crisis in local council funding. Year after year, the previous Government slashed funding while asking councils to do more and more. The result has been nothing short of a disaster. Spiralling social care costs are a huge part of this, which is yet another reason why reform is so vital. There is another black hole in council budgets due to the broken system for special educational needs and disabilities. The extra £1 billion announced by the Chancellor is therefore welcome, and I pay tribute to my colleagues, not least my hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson), who have campaigned so hard on this. However, I fear that the crisis in SEND budgets left by the Conservatives is much bigger. Last week, the National Audit Office laid bare the sheer scale of the problem, with half of children waiting more than the 20-week limit for an education, health and care plan, and with 43% of councils at risk of bankruptcy. The severity of the crisis left by the Conservatives speaks for itself, so we need to act with even greater urgency to tackle it. We will press the Government to give the House a clear timeline for reform, because neither children, parents nor councils can wait any longer. The Chancellor has said that her main objective is economic growth, and she is right. We all agree that we need to get our economy growing strongly again to create jobs and opportunities for everyone, and to raise the money that our public services need, but we need a real plan to do that and not just stop things getting worse or return to business as usual. We need to build the economy of the future—one that is genuinely innovative, prosperous and fair. Part of that is about fixing the health and care crisis, which will be crucial, as will managing the public finances responsibly and giving businesses the certainty and stability they need to invest in our economy. We must also invest in cheap, clean, renewable power to drive a strong recovery, to bring down energy bills and to create secure, well-paid jobs. I welcome the steps that the Government have taken so far, but we must do more to back small businesses. They are the beating heart of our local economies, so I urge the Chancellor to go beyond today’s announcement on business rates by making an historic change to overhaul the broken business rates system that is destroying our high streets and town centres. Tinkering around the edges is simply not good enough any longer. One final crucial ingredient of growth is fixing our broken relationship with Europe. Removing the Conservatives’ trade barriers would be a massive boost for British jobs, British business and the British economy. By ruling out important steps such as a youth mobility scheme or key long-term goals such as membership of the single market, the Government are trying to grow our economy with one arm tied behind their back. In July, the British people kicked out of office one of the most damaging Governments in our country’s history. On the Conservatives’ watch, we saw living standards fall, the economy stagnate and public services decline. Although no Government would have an easy time turning that around, people were looking to this Budget for hope and a genuinely new direction. They were looking for urgent action to fix the health and care crisis, for a break from the previous Government’s tax mistakes, for a plan to grow our economy and to rescue local councils that are on the brink, and for a fair deal. Yes, the Chancellor had to make big, difficult decisions, but I fear that she has got too many of them wrong. We needed a different Budget to repair the damage done to our country and to give people the fair deal they deserve. For our constituents, Liberal Democrat Members will push the Government to do far more for our economy, for the NHS and for care—those are the things that the Liberal Democrats will always champion.

• 30 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mr Speaker. May I associate myself with your remarks and those of the Prime Minister about the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak), and thank him for his service? I wish him and the whole country a happy Diwali. Despite our political differences, I have always felt a certain kinship with him since the general election, when he was the only other party leader to get as wet as I did. [ Laughter. ] I am looking forward to debating the Budget with him and the Chancellor shortly, but may I wish him and his family all the best for the future? Next month’s summit in Baku is a chance for the UK to regain world leadership on climate change—a role disastrously lost under the Conservatives. As this is the final summit before countries must ratchet up their new Paris agreement targets for 2035, will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to seize back world leadership on climate change by committing today to support the targets set out this week by the independent Climate Change Committee and publishing a programme to deliver on them?

• 30 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the Prime Minister for his reply. I hope we really can take that world leadership back again. Another issue on which the UK needs to show urgent leadership is the escalating war in Sudan. Tens of thousands of people have been killed, and 11 million Sudanese have had to flee from their homes. The reports of mass killings and horrifying sexual violence against women are truly stomach-churning. When the UK takes over the presidency of the UN Security Council this Friday, will the Prime Minister make it a priority to secure a new resolution on preventing future atrocities, including a no-fly zone to stop the Iranian drones?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Carer’s Allowance · Hansard source

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  When he was Secretary of State, did the right hon. Gentleman ask what proportion of overpayments were due to egregious fraud and what proportion were due to being a small amount over the earnings limit?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Carer’s Allowance · Hansard source

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  I will let the right hon. Gentleman in, but then I do want to make some progress.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Carer’s Allowance · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member is absolutely right. I include young carers; indeed, I am a member of the all-party parliamentary group on young carers and young adult carers, and I invite him to join us. It is chaired by a well-established Labour Member. Young carers are very much part of our thinking, but for some, who will not be young—

• 16 Oct 2024 · Carer’s Allowance · Hansard source

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  Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Carer’s Allowance · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House recognises the remarkable contributions that the UK’s 5.7 million unpaid carers make to society and the huge financial challenges many face; notes with deep concern that tens of thousands of carers are unfairly punished for overpayments of Carer’s Allowance due to the £151-a-week earnings limit; believes that carers should not be forced to face the stress, humiliation and fear caused by demands for repayments of Carer’s Allowance; condemns the previous Government for failing to address this scandal; calls on the Government to write-off existing overpayments immediately, raise the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit and introduce a taper to end the unfair cliff edge; and further calls on the Government to conduct a comprehensive review of support for carers to help people juggle care and work. It is a great honour to open the first full Liberal Democrat Opposition day in 15 years. I assure the House that we will not waste our precious debates on the sort of political game playing to which Opposition days often fall victim. Instead, we will use them to focus on the things that really matter to ordinary people, and to tell Ministers directly about the real problems that our constituents face. That brings me to our first motion on unpaid carers, or family carers as I prefer to say. They are people looking after relatives, friends or neighbours, and they do a remarkable and important job. Looking after someone they love can be rewarding and full of love—whether they are a parent of a disabled child, a teenager looking after a terminally ill parent or a close relative of an elderly family member—but it is far from glamorous. Caring for a family member can be relentless and exhausting. As the House knows, I have been a carer for much of my life but, more importantly, I have also had the great privilege of meeting and hearing from thousands of carers in my constituency and across the United Kingdom. I have some understanding of the challenges that carers face every single day: the worries, the exhaustion, the lack of breaks and the financial difficulties, too. Britain’s carers deserve our support.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Carer’s Allowance · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mr Speaker. The hon. Gentleman is of course right and I pay tribute to his constituent, who was lucky enough to be presented the award by Mr Speaker. He is right about the mental health of carers. NHS data shows that the mental health of carers is twice as poor as it is for the population at large because of the isolation, so that issue is absolutely a part of this debate.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Carer’s Allowance · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the Minister for what she has just said, but will she confirm that the remit of the review will go further into the structure of carer’s allowance? Many of us think that the earnings limit is way too low, and the whole cliff-edge structure has to change. Can she confirm that the review will look at that?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Carer’s Allowance · Hansard source

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  I made it very clear in my speech that there could be examples of fraud, so I ask the right hon. Gentleman to check the record. I could not have been clearer, and we have talked about this at length in other fora—indeed, we made it clear at the general election. I am afraid that the right hon. Gentleman has shown to the House that he failed to get a grip of this issue when he was Secretary of State. He recognises that the vast majority of overpayments were small amounts, often because the DWP, in which he was Secretary of State, did not pass on information to HMRC. I am afraid that he is digging a hole for himself.