Exclusive: Sir Ed Davey told MyLondon’s podcast The London Brief the party will continue to stand up for London’s Remain voters
Donald Trump’s behaviour in the White House is helping the pro-European Liberal Democrats appeal to voters in London, the party’s leader has claimed.
Sir Ed Davey said that the US President’s assault on Iran and imposition of trade tariffs has helped his party make the case for the UK moving closer to, or even rejoining, the European Union (EU).
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has indicated that the UK’s long term future could be inside the bloc, but will settle for a new agreement based on “closer alignment” for now – something the Lib Dem leader welcomes but suggested he will continue pressuring Downing Street on the issue.
Sir Ed was speaking to MyLondon’s podcast, The London Brief , 10 years on from the Brexit vote which saw the British people elect to leave the EU.
Despite the ‘Leave’ vote prevailing with 52 per cent of electors, almost 60 per cent of Londoners opted to remain in the EU.
The Liberal Democrats has been the only major political party to maintain a pro-EU stance throughout its ranks since the vote, something Sir Ed suggests is being vindicated as time moves on.
“We have led the debate against Brexit,” he claimed. “We were famous for our opposition to Brexit, and we have been the party making the case for reviewing the Brexit deal that has been so damaging to our economy and our security.
“Donald Trump has confirmed in some people’s minds that we were right. With his trade tariffs, he’s undermined our economy; with his outrageous war in Iran, he’s hit everyone in the pocket with higher oil and gas prices; and he’s undermined the security of our country and the work we were doing to help Ukraine against Russia.
“People have realised that if we want to go forward on our economy and be more secure, we need to be talking to our European allies and working with them back in the way we used to.
“I’m not a fan of Donald Trump – but he has made the case for Europe, because he’s been so dreadful. That’s helped us make our argument, and the need for us to join the Single Market, get back in the Customs Union.
“Those would be so important for businesses and individuals in London. It would help us grow, and I’d like to use the money that would come from that growth to cut people’s taxes.”
Recent polling suggests there’s a grain of truth in that – whether it be down to Mr Trump’s actions or otherwise. A YouGov survey last month found that two-thirds of Londoners would back rejoining the EU, while the proportion who would opt to leave is now down to 15 per cent.
While successive Labour leaders insisted on respecting the national mandate, the capital has been somewhat of a political outlier.
The Mayor of London has, arguably, been the most senior Labour figure to continually call for a Brexit reversal.
Sir Sadiq Khan has consistently pressed his own party – both in public and private – to rethink their European strategy. Last month he wrote to ministers to assert that “rejoining the EU must remain our destination”.
The Lib Dem leader suggested that support from the likes of City Hall will help build a “cross party consensus” to push the government back towards Brussels alignment.
“I hear a number of Labour politicians, senior Labour politicians like the Mayor, who have consistently opposed Brexit, and I applaud that,” he added.
“It’s really important we have a cross-party consensus as much as possible so we re-engage our European allies, because it’s in the economic interest of our country and our defence interests.”
However, he said voters would be right to punish “anti-European” politicians in the Conservatives and Reform UK, claiming they should be “held to account for the way their opposition to European cooperation has damaged our economy here in London, damaged the City, damaged so many businesses that export – the service industries.”
Sir Ed added: “Frankly, they should hang their heads in shame for the damage they’ve done to families and businesses.”
The MP for Kingston and Surbiton, a seat in which the majority of voters opted to Remain, offered an olive branch to “repentant” Conservatives, however, as part of a wider effort to lobby Mr Burnham.
“There are Conservatives who want to change their mind and say they got it wrong,” he said.
“That’s fine. We need to reset our relationship with Europe and be far, far more ambitious than the Prime Minister wants to be. I welcome the fact that he’s beginning to make a shift, but he needs to go far further and far more quickly.”
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