Ed Davey

Sir Edward Jonathan Davey FRSA (born 25 December 1965) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 to 2015 and as Deputy Leader to Jo Swinson in 2019. An "Orange Book" liberal, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston and Surbiton since 2017, and from 1997 to 2015.

Ed Davey

Quotes

2013

• Of course there will always be uncertainties within climate science and the need for research to continue. But some sections of the press are giving an uncritical campaigning platform to individuals and lobby groups. This is not the serious science of challenging, checking and probing. This is destructive and loudly clamouring scepticism born of vested interest, nimbyism, publicity seeking contraversialism or sheer blinkered, dogmatic, political bloody-mindedness. This tendency will seize upon the normal expression of scientific uncertainty and portray it as proof that all climate change policy is hopelessly misguided. By selectively misreading the evidence, they seek to suggest that climate change has stopped so we can all relax and burn all the dirty fuel we want without a care. Those who argue against all the actions we are taking to reduce emissions, without any serious and viable alternative, are asking us to take a massive gamble with the planet our children will inherit, in the face of all the evidence, against overwhelming odds.
  • "Ed Davey attacks 'blinkered' climate change sceptics", BBC News (3 June 2013)

• This is a good decision by the European Parliament [to reduce the number of permits traded] and is an important step forward for climate change policy
  • "MEPs' move to fix EU carbon market praised", BBC News (4 July 2013)

2014

• I want other European countries to be more ambitious... We can go green and we can do it in a cheap way. The cost of renewables has been coming down significantly.
  • "Ed Davey urges EU to lead climate change fight", BBC News (13 April 2014)

• Europe has sent a clear and firm message to the world that ambitious climate action is needed now
  • "EU leaders agree CO2 emissions cut", BBC News (24 October 2014)

• This morning only five countries in Europe had climate targets post 2020, now 28 countries do. It's good for consumers because we can decarbonise at the lowest possible cost using a diverse mix of technologies. And it's good for business as it provides the certainty they have been calling for to unlock billions in low carbon investment.
  • "EU leaders agree CO2 emissions cut", BBC News (24 October 2014)

• There are more than a million British people living in Spain. There are hundreds of thousands of British people living in France. In fact there are tens of thousands of people living in almost every EU country and if we were to pull up the drawbridge on the English Channel, the truth is British people wouldn't be able to come and go because they'd take action against us.
  • "Towns 'feel under siege' from migrants, minister warns", BBC News (26 October 2014)

2017

• [Ending EU migration rules will] do nothing to reassure the hospitals that are already seeing record numbers of EU nurses leaving, or the companies struggling to recruit the staff they need
  • "Brexit: UK-EU freedom of movement 'to end in March 2019'", BBC News (27 July 2017)

• Since the Brexit negotiations begun there's a third emotion I've been feeling - embarrassment. Embarrassment at our country's leaders. Embarrassment for Great Britain.
  • "Anti-Brexit marchers rally in Parliament Square", BBC News (9 September 2017)

• To take police numbers in England and Wales to record lows when the terrorist threat to our country is rising is a dereliction of duty by the Conservatives.
  • "Sir Ed Davey accuses Conservatives over police cuts", BBC News (18 September 2017)

• With Brexit the very best deal they can get is worse than what we've got now.
  • "Sir Ed Davey accuses Conservatives over police cuts", BBC News (18 September 2017)

2018

• We've already seen in the Windrush scandal how the Conservatives' hostile environment checks can destroy the lives of people who have every right to be in the UK. The government's chaotic approach to Brexit risks a repeat of that scandal for EU citizens.
  • "No-deal Brexit: Employers to check EU migrants' status - minister"< BBC News (30 October 2018)

2019

• Membership of a terrorist group is a serious crime, as is encouraging or supporting terrorism, but Shamima Begum should face justice for those crimes in the UK.
  • "Shamima Begum: IS teenager to lose UK citizenship", BBC News (20 February 2019)

• We need to become a political home to pro-EU liberal Tories and pro-EU liberal and social democrat Labour MPs and voters.
  • "Liberal Democrat leadership: Contenders make pitches", BBC News (26 June 2019)

• This [ending EU migration rules] will hugely increase the damage cause by a no-deal Brexit
  • "Brexit: EU migration rules 'to end straight after no-deal'", BBC News (19 August 2019)

• People want an end to this, and the only way you can stop Brexit in a democratic exercise like a general election is to say you would revoke.
  • "Liberal Democrat party to consider scrapping Brexit", BBC News (14 September 2019)