Ed Davey MP: speeches

Speeches

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Yesterday, the Government were asking the House to vote for a law that would mean that someone with a condition such as Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis would qualify for a personal independence payment today, but someone diagnosed with the same condition, with the very same symptoms, in a few months’ time would not. We all know that the cost of welfare needs to come down, but that was not a fair way to do it. Until he lost control yesterday, the Prime Minister was arguing for that approach. Has he changed his mind on this, or not?

• 2 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  The House and Labour Back Benchers will note that the Prime Minister did not answer my question. Moreover, if he looked at our proposals for welfare reform to cut down the bill, he would not be in the mess that he is in. Moving on, from Hillsborough to Grenfell, from Primodos to Horizon, and from the contaminated blood scandal to nuclear test veterans, the bereaved and survivors of some of our country’s most appalling scandals have come together to call for a legal duty of candour, and for the secondary duty needed to make it practical and effective for investigations and inquiries. They are now frightened that the Government are watering down these proposals to such an extent that they would be toothless. After months of delay, can the Prime Minister reassure campaigners that his Hillsborough law will include a real legal duty of candour, as he promised?

• 26 Jun 2025 · G7 and NATO Summits · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the Prime Minister for early sight of his statement. The Liberal Democrats agree that it would have been wrong to leave an empty chair in front of the Union Jack at the table for the G7 and NATO. It is astonishing, and I share his surprise, that it is now Conservative policy not to attend the G7 and NATO. I am glad that the Prime Minister has signalled retreat on his welfare plans. I hope that he will now listen to everyone and not just his Back Benchers. On the G7, despite the progress that he outlined, it remains extremely damaging to the world economy that the United States and Donald Trump continue their policy of protectionism. Can the Prime Minister update the House on whether he has had discussions with other G7 and, indeed, NATO colleagues about how we could persuade President Trump to resile from protectionism? On NATO, the Prime Minister is right to say that Putin’s imperial ambitions present a once-in-a-generation threat to our security. Last week, I travelled to Estonia to meet British troops and Estonian leaders, including Prime Minister Michal. The Estonians have not forgotten the repression enforced by Russian tanks, nor the murder of four former Prime Ministers at the hands of the Kremlin. They are under no illusions about the threat posed by Putin, and we must not be either, so I welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to NATO’s new spending target. In the face of Russia’s war machine, the British Army remains an essential guarantor of our country’s security and that of our allies. When I met our incredible troops stationed in Estonia, I was inspired by their skill and professionalism. We need to get more brilliant people like them into the military, so will the Prime Minister consider the Liberal Democrats’ proposals to move more quickly to reverse the Conservatives’ cuts to the Army, and back our new £10,000 bonus for recruits? It is vital that we take such measures, as Putin continues his barbarism in Ukraine. Our commitment to Ukraine’s defence must be increased, not reduced. In addition to the actions that the Prime Minister outlined, can he confirm whether he has held more discussions with partners on not just using the interest from frozen Russian assets, but seizing those assets, so that we can bolster our support for Ukraine and pay for a faster increase in defence spending? The Estonians believe they have a plan to deal with all the complications that he mentions when I ask him questions about this. Is he prepared to meet me to discuss the Estonians’ ideas about how to break the backlog so that we can seize those assets? The Prime Minister also spoke about the conflicts and crises in the middle east. He is right to push even harder for a ceasefire in Gaza. People around the world will question whether military action, rather than diplomacy, will actually make us safer in the future. We must redouble our efforts for a just peace in the region, and that must include self-determination for the Palestinian people. Will the Government finally commit to recognising a state for the Palestinians?

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Let me join others in wishing you a belated many happy returns for yesterday, Mr Speaker. Let me also welcome the Government’s sanctions on two Ministers in the Netanyahu Government, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich. The settler violence that they have incited against innocent Palestinians on the west bank is intolerable, and the Government were right to act. As it is Carers Week, may I pay tribute to the millions of unpaid family carers across the country, recognising the challenges that they face? The last Conservative Government left our health service on its knees. We have heard reports that the NHS will receive extra funding in the spending review, and if it does, we will support that, but does the Prime Minister agree that no amount of money for the NHS will solve its crisis unless we also invest to fix care? Without pre-empting the Chancellor’s statement, will he reassure me that both social care and family carers will be given the priority they deserve in the spending review?

• 11 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  The Prime Minister knows that he has a fairer and better way of funding NHS investment, and I regret the fact that he did not answer my question about care, but let us move on. The Prime Minister is right to increase defence spending, and later we will hear about the difficult choices that the Chancellor has had to make partly to fund that defence expenditure, but there are frozen Russian assets worth £25 billion in the UK right now— billions that could be used to stop Putin’s war machine and to boost Britain’s defence industry even faster. At the G7 summit this weekend, will the Prime Minister seek an agreement to seize those frozen Russian state assets and use them to support Ukraine?

• 4 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  I had hoped the Prime Minister would now be beginning to see the sort of man Trump is and start getting tough on him, so we will come back to this issue. I welcome the Prime Minister’s remarks about Gaza, because I am sure that all of us are appalled by the latest scenes: starving people desperate for food, water and medicine, met with chaos and violence. The US-Israeli programme is clearly failing and nothing short of lifting the full blockade on aid will do. Given that the Netanyahu Government refuse to do that, will the Prime Minister take more decisive action today? Will he push at the United Nations Security Council for humanitarian corridors to get the desperately needed aid urgently into Gaza?

• 4 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  I start by welcoming reports that the Chancellor will give winter fuel payments to more pensioners this winter, although because we still await the details, we will reserve our full judgment. I recognise the efforts of the Prime Minister to pull out all the stops to avoid President Trump’s damaging tariffs: a letter from the King, offering to water down online safety laws and even trying to send the Open to one of Trump’s golf courses. The Prime Minister thought he had secured 0% tariffs for British steel, but now Trump is threatening us with 50% unless we comply with his new, five-week deadline. This is classic Trump—changing the terms of a deal he has already agreed. Does the Prime Minister share my fear that nothing will stop Trump messing the UK around, short of bunging a few hundred million pounds into his TrumpCoin?

• 21 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  I think that I welcome what the Prime Minister has said, but we will look at the details. I hope that he will use some of these new proceeds to help others, like carers. The Government’s changes to the personal independence payment will have big consequences for family carers like Ginny, who cares for her husband Tim, who has myotonic dystrophy. Ginny holds her husband’s hand to keep him steady as he walks. He falls frequently and chokes on his food. Ginny is the sole earner in the family—she works part time on top of caring for Tim—but she has calculated that under the Government’s cuts her family will lose £12,000 a year. Will the Prime Minister tell Ginny and many family carers like her what he expects them to do?

• 21 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Can I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks about the terrible fire in Bicester last Thursday? I know from my hon. Friend the Member for Bicester and Woodstock (Calum Miller) how deeply the close-knit community there has been affected by this tragedy. The firefighters Martyn Sadler and Jennie Logan were true heroes, as was Dave Chester. I hope that the prayers and thoughts of the House are with their loved ones and the two firefighters still in hospital. The Prime Minister has rightly said that his new trade deals will give a much-needed boost to economic growth, and thus the public finances, but will he make sure that struggling families and pensioners see the benefits of this growth? He teased the House in his answer to the hon. Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen); will he commit now to reversing his cuts to the winter fuel payment in full?

• 20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source

  More

  I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks about the appalling situation in Gaza. When he is working with our French and Canadian colleagues to put pressure on Netanyahu, will he consider, with the French, formally recognising the state of Palestine? Turning to the EU reset deal, the Prime Minister knows that we do not think this deal goes far enough to fix our broken relationship with Europe, but there are many parts of it that we welcome. We have long been arguing for an agrifood deal to help British farmers export to Europe; for a youth mobility scheme to give our young people incredible new opportunities and British businesses, especially in hospitality, a boost; and for closer alliances on defence in the face of Putin’s imperialism and Trump’s unpredictability. I welcome the progress on those issues, even if there is only very limited progress on things such as youth mobility. We have all seen the terrible damage caused by the Conservatives’ Brexit deal, and hearing the Conservative leader complain today is like listening to a backseat driver who previously crashed the car. Our country has moved on from the divisive Brexit wars of a decade ago, and some Members of this House need to do the same. However, does the Prime Minister accept that this deal must be only the first step, and that we must be far more ambitious in strengthening our economic and security ties with our nearest neighbours? We believe that a bespoke customs union is a key part of that—not turning back to the past, but forming a new partnership that serves our national interest. I know that the Prime Minister once made that a red line, but he will accept that the world has changed since then, so will he open negotiations on a customs union to get a better deal for Britain—a trade deal to dwarf all other trade deals?

• 14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  On behalf of my party, may I offer heartfelt congratulations to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV? May I also offer our support to the Prime Minister and his family after the appalling arson attacks on his home? I echo his thanks to our brilliant police and firefighters. Three years ago, the previous Government were faced with a choice. Their own Migration Advisory Committee told Ministers that recruiting more care workers required improved conditions, career progression and better pay, but the Conservatives chose not to do that and instead brought in large numbers of care workers from overseas. The carers looking after our loved ones in care homes should be thanked, not demonised. Will the Prime Minister now do the things that the Conservatives refused to do, starting with a higher minimum wage for carers?

• 14 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the Prime Minister for that reply. It is a good first step, but we will still see people earning more in Amazon warehouses and supermarkets than in care homes, and that will mean our loved ones going without the care they need. Turning to the middle east, for more than 10 weeks Israeli forces have blocked food, water and medicine getting into Gaza. There is now a humanitarian catastrophe, with 2 million people at risk of famine and one in five facing starvation. Rather than ending this crisis, the Netanyahu Government are planning to seize all Gaza indefinitely. I know the Prime Minister will agree that the blockade of Gaza should end and I am sure he will agree that it would be appalling if Netanyahu proceeds with that escalation, but will he act now and pick up the phone to President Trump for a joint plan to recognise Palestine and get food, water and medicine into Gaza?

• 7 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  As we celebrate 80 years since Britain led our allies to victory over fascism, I pay tribute on behalf of the Liberal Democrats to all those who struggled and sacrificed so much for our freedoms today. I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks about the conflict in Kashmir and, with him, urge restraint and de-escalation on both sides. Among the messages that voters sent to Ministers last week, one stood out: bring back the winter fuel payment for millions of struggling pensioners. People will therefore be disappointed that the Prime Minister failed to do so today. He says that he wants to “go further and faster” to clean up the mess left by the Conservatives, but on social care, which is so crucial for our NHS, he is going slower and slower. Not only will the Casey commission take three years, we learned on Friday that the Government plan to take an extra seven years to implement it—it will not be implemented until 2036. Will the Prime Minister rip up that timetable, make sure that he does not repeat the mess made by the Conservatives, and get on with fixing social care this year?

• 7 May 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  I am disappointed by that answer, and I will keep coming back to hold the Prime Minister to account. People also want a Government who will stand up for our country against Donald Trump. First, he came for our steelworkers and our car makers with his outrageous tariffs. Now, Donald Trump is coming for our world-leading British film industry. Will the Prime Minister work with our allies in Europe and the Commonwealth and make it clear to President Trump that if he picks a fight with James Bond, Bridget Jones and Paddington Bear, he will lose?

• 30 Apr 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  I am very disappointed by that reply, and the lack of a yes or no response. We want a vote, and we will keep pressing the Prime Minister and his Government on that. Turning to a domestic issue, my hon. Friend the Member for Dorking and Horley (Chris Coghlan) has taken up the cause of Fiona Laskaris, whose autistic adult son Christopher was horrifically exploited and then murdered by a convicted criminal. As “ITV News” has reported, when Fiona tried to get a mental capacity assessment for her son, she was dismissed, so Christopher never got the support that might have saved his life. We are going to try to change the law so that families’ concerns over a loved one’s mental capacity have to be considered. Will the Prime Minister give his personal backing to that change, to prevent another tragedy like Christopher’s?

• 30 Apr 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  On behalf of my party, may I send our congratulations to Mark Carney and the Liberal party of Canada on their historic victory? We wish them well, as Canada continues to stand up strongly to President Trump’s tariffs and threats. Canada has learned what happens when a trade deal is done with President Trump; he cannot be trusted to stick with it. The Prime Minister did not answer my question last week, nor he did answer my hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones) just now. Let me ask again. Will the Government give Members a vote on the Floor of the House on any deal he agrees with President Trump—yes or no?

• 23 Apr 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Unlike the Prime Minister, we had a funded programme at the election. I am disappointed with his reply—I hope he will actually visit some of these hospitals to see the urgent need for rebuilding. At Merton Mead farm in Oxfordshire last week, I saw world-class British beef farmers at work. Farmers want the Prime Minister to be careful in a trade deal with President Trump. They were let down by the Conservatives’ appalling trade deals and worry that a bad US deal could allow American agribusiness to undercut them with inferior meat. Will the Prime Minister guarantee a vote in this House on any trade deal that he agrees with the United States?

• 23 Apr 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  I also wish the House and the country a happy St George’s day, and join the Prime Minister in paying tribute to the late Pope Francis. As a Christian, I found his compassion absolutely inspiring. My prayers are with Catholics in the UK and across the world, who will feel his loss particularly deeply. I have previously raised with the Prime Minister the issue of North Devon district hospital. The previous Government promised to rebuild it, as they did hospitals across the south-west, in places such as Torbay and Musgrove Park. Unfortunately, they broke that promise, leaving appalling conditions like sewage leaks and patients being treated in corridors. Will the Prime Minister reconsider his decision to delay further the construction of new hospitals, and ask his MPs to vote for our motion today for new hospitals?

• 12 Apr 2025 · Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  We will scrutinise this Bill today, but we want to do so in a constructive fashion. Given the huge damage that President Trump’s tariffs have done to the British steel industry, accelerating this crisis, does the Secretary of State agree that any Member of this House who actively campaigned for President Trump’s election and cheered him on has behaved shamefully unpatriotically and should apologise to British steelworkers?

• 2 Apr 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  I hope the Prime Minister is able to cut a deal, but I increasingly fear that the deal will not be good enough to avoid a global trade war. That is why one of the options must be to work with our European allies, our Commonwealth allies and others, because if we do not tackle Trump’s tariffs we could be saying goodbye to free trade for a generation. Turning to a domestic matter, three years ago the American private equity firm KKR bought a 25% stake in Northumbrian Water. Since then, people across the north-east have seen their water bills soar, while in the last year alone Northumbrian Water has dumped nearly 1 million tonnes of raw sewage into Durham’s Whitburn coast conservation area. KKR is now poised to buy into Thames Water, because Ministers have ruled out a special administration regime. Will the Prime Minister guarantee that Thames Water will not be allowed to repeat the same trick of putting up bills and dumping raw sewage at the same time? The Conservatives allowed it; he should not.

• 2 Apr 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s earlier remarks, particularly about Myanmar and Thailand. I support the aid; despite the budget cuts, I hope we can be as generous as possible because of the humanitarian crisis there. The Prime Minister has shown commendable leadership over Ukraine, with his plan for a military coalition of the willing against Putin. Will he now provide similar leadership with an economic coalition of the willing against Trump’s tariffs and for free trade, so we can avoid a global trade war and a global recession?

• 26 Mar 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  The British drama “Adolescence” has shone a much-needed spotlight on the enormous damage being done by social media to the minds of many of our young people, especially teenage boys. We have argued that social media giants should be much more toughly regulated and pay more tax, so that we can defend our young people from this harm. We have had disturbing reports that the Government are considering scrapping the digital services tax and watering down Britain’s online safety legislation to appease President Trump and his co-president, Elon Musk. Will the Prime Minister categorically rule out both those things, and make it clear that he will guarantee that British laws on tax and social media will be written in this House, and not the White House?

• 26 Mar 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  I am grateful for the Prime Minister’s reply on the social media laws, but he did not answer the point on the digital services tax. We will come back to that. Moving on, after President Trump’s national security adviser accidentally added a journalist to a group chat that was discussing military action in Yemen, and given all the concerns that we share about President Trump’s relationship with Vladimir Putin and JD Vance’s insulting disdain for Britain and our armed forces, will the Prime Minister order an urgent review into the security of the intelligence that we share with the United States?

• 19 Mar 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  I think the whole House is disappointed by that reply. I hope that, ahead of the spring statement, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor will think about taking that money from the NHS, and reverse that. I would like to turn to the issue of illegal hare coursing. Criminal gangs are terrorising rural communities across our country, from Cambridgeshire to Devon, from Oxfordshire to Wiltshire. Men in balaclavas are threatening and abusing farmers, as these criminals tear across their fields in 4x4s. Farmers are warning that it is only a matter of time before someone is killed. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that we must act urgently against this appalling criminality? Will he back our calls for a comprehensive rural crime strategy, so that we not just stamp out hare coursing but keep our rural communities safe from all crime?

• 19 Mar 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks on Ukraine and Gaza. I also pay tribute to Group Captain John “Paddy” Hemingway and all our heroes from the battle of Britain. Members across the House will, like me, have heard from GPs, dentists, community pharmacists and care homes who are all deeply worried about the impact of the national insurance rise on the services they provide to patients. That is why the House of Lords passed a Liberal Democrat amendment to exempt NHS and care providers. That amendment comes before this House this afternoon, but we are hearing worrying reports that the Prime Minister will order Labour MPs to vote against it. Will the Prime Minister reassure the House and patients across the country that those reports are not true?