Leader Interviews - Sir Ed Davey of the Liberal Democrats | Election 2024

We sit down with the leader of the Liberal Democrats - Sir Ed Davey.
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He has been praised for opening up about caring for his severely disabled son. A campaign video shows emotional scenes with his teenage son John - as well as his childhood memories of caring for his terminally ill mother. It's had millions of views on social media.
As part of our series of election interviews with the party leaders - Krishnan Guru-Murthy has been talking to Sir Ed about the election campaign so far - and his party's manifesto plans.
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[@RaphaelSantos-xv1xe]

I am genuinely shocked. I'm fairly new to politics being young, but this may just be the first time I've seen a party leader speak openly, amicably, calmly, transparently, and not attack anyone personally or talk over the interviewer. He didn't dodge questions, he welcomed probing that could've been uncomfortable and didn't try and divert focus away by giving a non-answer. He has good ideas, clear convictions, and feels very grounded in reality in a way that Keir Starmer simply doesn't at the moment. I hope the Liberal Democrats at least win opposition this election.

[@lucymurray4514]

--And maybe I'm biased because I also really like the way Ed Davey came across in this 🤣

[@markliam9446]

Great interview of a seriously underestimated politician.

[@alexlothian8293]

Do you really think so? This is the same Ed Davey who was minister in charge when the postmasters asked for help, and he told them to sling their hook, could have and should have done more but didn`t . Might be ok as a father but as a political representative, a complete and utter waste of breathe.

[@alexanderhemming6148]

@@alexlothian8293 I remember looking into that and j found out that he actually helped then, wasn't really in charge, and it was worse when others were in charge. It's kinda just a fake smear campaign thing but there's some videos on that

[@markliam9446]

Not so underestimated now. 🙂

[@pastyman001]

Libdem's latest Yougov projection is 60 odd seats, ahead of the tories. Fantastic!

[@EmiSuperTrans71]

Yep I donated to them first time I have ever donated to any party.

[@davidmurphy563]

There would have to be a lot of tactical voting for that to happen. The Tory vote is very concentrated in certain constituencies. I don't think 60 will do it, 75 as a minimum might be enough. They're only campaigning in 100 so that's a huge ask. It's possible but there would have to be a culture of tactical voting including Lib Dems voting Labour in seats they can't win. Unlikely.

[@KarlBraveman]

Actually pretty impressed with Ed Davey.

[@Fanaticjames]

Thought he sounded like a breath of fresh air for a moment then checked his voting history; constantly voted against raising tax on high earners to fund NHS, voted against higher taxes on 150k+ earners, voted against raising capitals gains tax, voted against stricter fracking regulations voted for academy schools, voted 14 times to reduce corporation tax, voted 13 times for reductions in welfare benefits voted 5 times against paying higher benefits voted for bedroom tax

[@auraman1000]

What his bikes?

[@joecurran2811]

​@@FanaticjamesCoalition government. Judge him on his manifesto now.

[@TopazDr]

@@Fanaticjames taxes for higher earners are too high anyway, and I can say that as someone planning to vote labour or lib dem.... I'm on 6 figures in london, with student debt thus negative equity for the time being, I've calculated I'm paying 58% marginal tax rate including student tax and national insurance. And that's not including council tax. It's literally impossible to become wealthy when you keep way less than half of what you made. No one will become rich over their lifetime, unless they inherit from parents, at this level of taxation. It needs to come down, this isn't sustainable.

[@Fanaticjames]

@@TopazDr Even if you were earning 200k a year you wouldn't be keeping only 42%...

[@vaclavmiller8032]

Very straightforward and honest answers from Ed. Top job!

[@chrisdickens4268]

Except of course zero reflection on the coalition, if the guy could just say the fixed term parliament act was a mistake I'd feel a lot more comfortable with then, but seems they learned nothing

[@oliverleonard7730]

@@chrisdickens4268 Yet despite that act being implemented we had the 2017 and 2019 elections, so there was always a way to overule it.

[@chrisdickens4268]

​@@oliverleonard7730 look up how it works and make up your own mind. Or better yet look at what they did in the 5 years they had.... Swallowed economic lies (credit card maxed out anyone?) and support ever increasing inequality, naive and incompetent if your being kind

[@Traceva]

I really hope that Children who are Caring for the Parents or Siblings will be given more support The Pandemic shocked me on so many levels but one in particularly shook me to my core: the realisation that so many very young people are Caring for their family members and are receiving very little, if any support. It breaks my heart that so many young children are forced into these roles and the burden that they carry as a consequence

[@dutchymaze6315]

I think families caring for families is the best way, they should support and encourage more family to do so, it will ease the burden on the future carw sector. And theres no one who can care for you than your own family

[@reamoinmcdonachadh9519]

The best way to protect young people from psychoactive substances is to address the reasons why they choose to use them. A fair percentage of "recreational" drug use is also self medicative, dealing with personal issues the person cannot bear, or find hard to deal with, whether emotionally, or mentally that are about themselves, their relationship with themselves as well as relationships with others that also have an impact directly or indirectly on their self image, self worth, self esteem etc. Until you deal with the underlying reasons/causes of drug use, you will never protect anyone from those who will predate upon their need to engage in drug use.

[@williammountfield8508]

That’s why the Lib Dems want a mental health professional in every school.

[@WWCLife]

They’ve got my vote.

[@ywiggan]

At least his talking about carers no other political party is.

[@PMMagro]

The curse of a two party system, parties with serious support and politicans can still not get into power except regionally. 100 000 voters in Northen Ireland or parts of Wales giving more seats than a million the whole of the UK spread out. Seats in the national parliamnet...

[@cameronfateweaver2206]

I would vote for Ed Davey. I would not vote Liberal Democrats though, because up until recently, Lib Dems represented old, property owning, upper middle-class people who are Tories in disguise. I'm sick of voting for parties that only cater for baby-boomers who don't care about the housing crisis, who voted for brexit, who don't care about the environment, and have made a complete mess that younger generations have to clean up.

[@lukeg8466]

That's how I feel too. I like Ed Davey much more than Keir Starmer, but I prefer the Labour Party to the Lib Dems. Since my local seat is very safe for Labour, I'm going to vote Green.

[@yashar6595]

Literally lazy journalism, Lib Dems definitely stopped tories from being absolutely awful those first 5 years, and had they gone back to vote or made an alliance with another party it would have been worse, its such a cheap shot to say you propped them up, I think ppl would stomach tories of the first 5 years over the past 5 chaotic years

[@chrisdickens4268]

So committing themselves to 5 year parliaments that they couldn't break was clever and didn't tie their hands at all? Lib Dem supporters may have forgiven them but they're few and far between, it's the legions of tactical voters they betrayed in 2010 that worry the same errors would happen again... You'll note how Sir Ed basically said "this was the best anyone would get, we did nothing wrong" the next three elections says the electorate disagrees!

[@_Stroda]

The argument that the LDs 'propped up' the Conservatives is also deeply flawed for one particularly glaring reason - there was no alternative. If the LDs had held the government to ransom over X or Y we would almost certainly have seen a series of events along the lines of i) early election ii) the Conservatives campaigning on the basis of being the 'grown ups in the room', the party 'willing to do what's necessary' to fix the country iii) enough idiots going out and voting Conservative to hand them a majority iv) unchecked Conservative rule at an earlier date than we, sadly, began to suffer it. Particularly so when it's those to the left who fail attacking the LDs and failing to grasp this, often the same types who refuse to accept that Corbyn wasn't generally popular, or to acknowledge that Labour have u-turned on countless manifesto pledges, and were the party to introduce, and then raise, tuition fees, I find it hard to take any of their views seriously.

[@chrisdickens4268]

​​@@_Stroda your very first sentence is wrong, there were many options from a coalition with another party to a supply and confidence agreement with the conservatives like the DUP did. Instead they guaranteed 5 years of support with the fixed term parliament act.... This is the glaring part that they never seem to reflect on which is why the "left" as you describe are uncomfortable trusting them

[@justgeneric2876]

Didn’t the government of Sir John Major introduce tuition fees (conservatives) of £1000 in the 1990s. Blair raised it to £3000 (still affordable). Tory’s were advised to raise it to £4-6,000 with low interest repayment. They raised it to £9-12,000 during a financial crisis and tacked on what is now 10-12% interest rate then sold it cheap to private buyers and backed it by the state in case of default which is likely. It’s a worse cost drain then the state pension and debt should be forgiven.

[@jarrodglover2311]

​@@chrisdickens4268 A supply and confidence agreement would have been far worse. At least with the coalition they actually had a say.

[@fehzorz]

Make this man the opposition leader!

Im impressed

[@luisinhocuenta9496]

I like this man for some reason. He is much beter than Lord Cameron and his gang.

[@jonathaneffemey944]

Thanks for posting

[@1styash]

After ruining life of thousands of post masters, he has no right to talk about British people. He is utterly shamelessly ignorant.

[@redlopa1]

“Poisened” is an interesting way to spell “poisoned”!

[@jonathanrobinson2628]

Can someone explain to me what a Pacific example of a Pacific tax rise is? 🤪 I will be voting Lib Dem, for the record. Just find the degradation of the English language a little depressing. 😢

[@MrNewman457]

We need more people like this man. Kind and honest.

[@jogreeen]

honest, 😅

[@SchmiberalSchmemocrats]

love you Ed, why are you in a bike shop though?

[@MrGMan-z4o]

Comes across as a normal human being

[@Fefflefeff]

Pleeeease decriminalise with the aim to legalise. These gangs cause so much harm, and legalising hits them hard. Legalising has been shown to decrease drug use, not increase it. It also makes it harder for children to access it. Dealers don't turn children away, licenced shops do. Prohibition isn't working, we need a wiser government or a government who WANTS to help, to help. The Tories have failed at this, just like everything else.

[@robbuxton8438]

Would have been good to have been questioned on plan to grow the economy.

[@mediastudiesnetwork]

Happy to add the 20th like

[@wiremucurtis3891]

I feel quite proud to have voted lib dem now

[@donttrip8282]

Crazy how this interview was conducted in comparison to the Green leader, far less aggressive when this guy is complicit in much of the kick off to the 14 years of damage. Far less interruptions and snide remarks and undermining. I don't want you to necessarily do that to Ed Davey, but you could have been more respectful like this to the Green leader, who to be frank, has a lot less to answer for. They weren't involved in saying the Post Office scandal, you would have thought so and worse the way KGM was going for him.

[@freya7pc]

Not on my watch? Which civil servants of lied to Ed Davey over the scandal of wrongful convictions of Post Office staff stemming from the flawed Horizon software system? We need the names of the individuals who lied so they can face criminal prosecutions. Innocent people were jailed and their assets were stolen- it can't just be brushed under the carpet.

[@eatonmje27]

Ask him about his role with the Post Office

[@allandutkiewicz88]

When he was in the coalition and austerity, he was going full.Bore, this man actually wanted to take money off the disabled children.He must have forgotten about all of that

[@kerrynewnham8946]

Why did the Liberal democrats go in to coalition with the Conservatives? when as far as I understand they could’ve got into Coalition with labour. That would’ve been a very different type of government, where they wouldn’t have had to be fighting them to stop them doing terrible things

[@stevedalyful]

Who is he?

[@rafaeljames331]

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey

[@safirahmed]

It was said in 2010 that Liberal Democrats could have formed a coalition with Labour after the 2010 general election but only if Gordon Brown resigned. Gordon Brown refused to resign and so the UK was ConDemned to a Conservative Liberal Democrats coalition Government that lasted a full five years.

[@oliverleonard7730]

A Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition would have only been 315 seats so still 11 short of a majority.

[@safirahmed]

​@@oliverleonard7730 Yes, 315 seats is not a majority however the Conservatives with Democratic Unionists with 315 seats would still have fewer seats than the 329 seats of Labour, Liberal Democrats, SNP, Green and SDLP, Plaid Cymru, Alliance combined although it would mean more work on various coalitions.

[@oliverleonard7730]

@@safirahmed That really would have been a coalition of chaos.

[@safirahmed]

@@oliverleonard7730 The coalition may be described as chaotic but the outcomes and long term prospects would have been better for the UK without 14 years of Tory rule.

[@alexanderhemming6148]

the guy talking to Ed Davies is literally more of a lib dem than ed davies is.

[@CityOfTinyLines]

I went off Liberal Democrats when they proved willing to work with Tories. I'd always hoped they were more Labour than Tory. They're not... or they weren't when it mattered.

[@jefbezoss7638]

Ed just won my vote the only decent leader vs the other 3 disgusting charlatans

[@JeffGamez-pd9vh]

He just yaps too much. Like you agree with the point so just say it clearly

[@dormoisjean-pierre1436]

To think that you Brits were fortunate enough to have a politician of such stature and you voted for Johnson and Corbyn. Damn you.

[@Blorp_]

I don’t think you understand how the British political process works

[@platosplatoon6873]

Don’t forget tuition fees

[@vanman266]

Disappointing that he cannot even admit to mistakes.

[@EmiSuperTrans71]

No he put it into context. A simple yes or no answer would be weaponised. He stated that in a government where they were the minority partner they did put the brakes on what the Tories could do. It’s not his fault the country then voted for the Tories so they could decimate our services into oblivion.

[@garywilson6047]

Ed private jet Davy.

[@FrankPeterson-uk9ky]

The EU is not Europe

[@adamsimmons631]

Exactly

[@dsmdsm2186]

Yawn.

[@Robbins996]

FFS. This party betrayed my generation when they got in to bed with the Tory’s. All he had to do was say “we made mistakes but we’ve changed.” But nope. Of course he’s never done anything wrong.

[@songscoops4205]

What's your generation...

[@ericdurber3448]

The Labour party does not have totally clean hands when it comes to sleeping with the enemy. Some local Labour parties on occasions "jump into bed" with the Tories at council level to form coalitions. Labour voters betrayed by their party.

[@kieronholt5979]

Torys betrayed it and used lib Dems as a scapegoat.

[@AlisonBaskeyfield]

Don’t know how old you are but the years under the Labour government weren’t great either. Uni tuition fees brought in. Focus on service sector, manufacturing in this country more or less wiped out. Little regulation on banks, the Labour Party loved the big banks. Until it all came crashing down. houses prices rising 20% year on year. Pricing first time buyers out, or landing them masses or debt for decades. Not to mention the Iraq war. The lib dems have apologised over and over about tuition fees, there is videos online with nick clegg apologising. Has Cameron apologised for the eu ref and the whole mess that followed no.

[@coppershark1973]

He is so very weird. To think his party was responsible for so much of the pain we’ve all suffered over the last FOURTEEN YEARS. Still, yeah, don’t take yourself seriously mate…

[@Red1Green2Blue3]

Which party did you vote for in 2010?

[@AlisonBaskeyfield]

The tories have been in power for 14 years not the Libdems, you’re blaming the wrong party. They got the tories to up the personal allowance, brought in free school meals for all ks1 school children, they reduced the tories austerity plans.

[@carltontweedle5724]

Trust Europe rubber boats no. Passports for paras on the D-DAY drop.

[@erikvynckier4819]

Ha ha ha: Ed Davey poisoned the trust between men and women (of the biological kind).

[@kevinluis468]

I’m definitely voting Lib Dems

[@prf7237]

Makes Johnson look authentic.

[@WH-hi5ew]

nobody makes Johnson look authentic, because he's not.

[@thinkwithaportal]

Vote for Reform!

[@prodlowd]

Fascists

[@jeffsimon9594]

@@prodlowd Careful, certain words can lose meaning when carelessly overused

[@prodlowd]

@@jeffsimon9594 like Reform using "socialist" to describe Labour and Tories, when they aren't even social democrat

[@mrpotato442]

Boring Ed Davey😴😴

[@hurrah5319]

The problem is that the tories did not have a mandate or the numbers to carry out their attack on public services in 2010, they were only able to because of the Lib Dems. Obviously Clegg is gone but the damage that has been done leaves a lasting legacy. I can’t see why he can’t just accept the mistake and apologise

[@Red1Green2Blue3]

In 2010 every, EVERY, party was advocating public spending cuts. That was also the Labour platform (although with hindsight I wish we'd kept Gordon Brown, definitely would have been better under him). There absolutely was a mandate for public service cuts in 2010. Obviously austerity was a huge mistake. The US under Obama did the opposite and went on a spending spree to push their economy through, now on the other side their economy is booming, tax revenues growing.

[@chrisdickens4268]

​@@Red1Green2Blue3 very revisionist, keynesianism was still alive and well in 2010!

[@justgeneric2876]

Brown had a reasonable plan of 4 years minor austerity, loans at rock bottom prices, VAT 10%. Brown was not charismatic but was capable.

[@mrtom3297]

I had to search for this when I couldn't gind him on question time. He soeaks common sense - how come the media ignore him?

[@songscoops4205]

So there's been a couple of arrests and a driving conviction...

[@kevinwilliams1768]

excellent interview

[@louismanouche]

very impressed with Ed Davey.

[@pholdway5801]

Who intends to ignore the will of the majority These incompetent spendthrifts will drag us back into Euro slavery

[@zingo2664]

sub postmaster total failure .

[@realduchessofsussex]

I do like Ed.

[@garthtomlinson2570]

A lot of words, not a lot actually said. Just another politician

[@jaapfolmer7791]

What a dishonester interviewer.

[@JakubWaniek]

I simply cannot bring myself to vote Lib Dem as long as Ed Davey says 'pacific' when he means 'specific'

[@Marz2695]

So you're voting for the grammar nazis?

[@RealDareel]

He says a lot of good things but to not express shame for the disastrous coalition is a barrier that will stop most people voting LibDem. There was a clear anti-austerity majority in the country but Eton boys Clegg and Cameron stitched it up but even then there were opportunities to collapse the government. You must distance yourself from that to attract Labour voters.

[@Red1Green2Blue3]

There are people still willing to vote for the Tories after the last 14 years. LibDems will be fine lol "There was a clear anti-austerity majority in the country" - FALSE. Even Labour were pro-austerity, they were also talking about billions of public spending cuts and asset sales.

[@VesiustheBoneCruncher]

Hang on, Brown also promised cuts from 2011 onwards in the form of ‘defecit reduction’. Everyone promised cuts - Labour wanted to try some stimulus stuff first, but after that, they also promised cuts. Truth is the Lib Dem’s were the handbrake on the Tories - you only have to look at the previous 9 years to see how truly egregious it has been without them.

[@jogreeen]

Yes, i was hoping that he would be honest, he obviously regrets his coalition. He is just like the rest of them.

[@bertiewooles3093]

Where was the Anti Austerity majority when the Labour Manifesto contained £81billion in cuts

[@RealDareel]

@@VesiustheBoneCruncher yeah that is a fair point about the Labour plans, that wasn’t the perception at the time and I don’t believe they would have been as bad as the tories and if the Libdems say they were holding the tories back surely they could have extracted a far higher price fromLabour

[@ChrisMurray-iw9ij]

Good the EU is swinging far right who would of thought a club of formal colonial superpowers would ever return go their roots

[@hawsrulebegin7768]

Decent guy but needed to be honest about regrets with that ridiculous coalition. Politicians still can’t get their head around the idea that the public appreciate honest apologies. But no party is good at that so I guess the Lib Dems are still better than the rest. Not a great choice is it.

[@sisensi3721]

Great to see Reform polling better today.

[@prodlowd]

Fascists

[@jeffsimon9594]

@@prodlowd Careful, certain words can lose meaning when carelessly overused

[@TroyaE117]

Oh man. The closet remainer crawls out of the pantry, and back to the old script.

[@user-eb3si]

Reform 💕👌

[@WanderingWarg]

I was thinking about voting tactically for the Lib Dems, but apparently Ed Davey doesn't have a scintilla of regret or remorse for the Coalition. No thanks!

[@alexsumorsaete2135]

He probably does but chose to go for “these are the good things we did” rather than bad things

[@VesiustheBoneCruncher]

If they hadn’t entered coalition they would have been told even they didn’t think they were fit for power. They knew they’d take a kicking whatever they did, Ashdown explicitly outlined the problem after the extraordinary general meeting. They did what they could as the (very) junior partner in the coalition. the 2010-2015 government was nowhere near as bad as what we’ve had since, even Labour would have made cuts (2011, proposed deficit reduction). So, in short, both of the senior parties had committed to either austerity, or austerity light, the junior partner literally had to chose one to have a reason to even continue as a party, and show that mechanically, coalition works (which it did), and plumped for the party with the most seats, obviously, and a chance at electoral reform (although the Lib Dem’s bodged that with AV).

[@AlisonBaskeyfield]

@@VesiustheBoneCruncher very well put. I don’t think AV was the Lib Dem’s preferred choice I think it was the conservatives would agree to.