London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

We lost the Brexit fight – now we must listen to voters, Ed Davey urges Lib Dems

We lost the Brexit fight – now we must listen to voters, Ed Davey urges Lib Dems

New leader says party must rebuild, amid calls from some members to back rejoining EU

Ed Davey, the new Lib Dem leader, has warned his party that it was “diverted and distracted” by Brexit and must now refocus on voters’ more urgent concerns, as he faces mounting internal demands to formally back rejoining the European Union.

Davey said that three poor election results in the last five years demonstrated the party needed to listen to voters again, warning that the Lib Dems had “forgotten that we serve the community, we serve the people”.

In an interview with the Observer during the Lib Dem virtual conference, he said the debate around EU membership was over “for the next few years”, adding that it was not the issue being raised by voters he had met during a “listening tour” he began after winning the leadership.

Davey lamented the course of the party since its huge loss of support in the wake of joining the coalition government with the Conservatives from 2010-15. He called for a return of the kind of party led by Paddy Ashdown or Charles Kennedy, which would listen to voters’ concerns and “then give a liberal response”.

“I think somehow, whether it was the coalition years or recovering from the coalition or because we got – not sidetracked – but we got distracted by the Brexit battle, we’ve forgotten that we serve the community, we serve people. And we have to start with them and their problems, and not start with our particular interests.

“We fought the good fight. I was marching on the streets. I was there in the lobbies. I gave it everything. But it’s tragic, we lost that fight.”

Asked what he would tell ardently pro-EU members concerned about Brexit, he said: “I’d say that I’m a pro-European. And I’d say that we’re a pro-European party. That isn’t changing. And by the way, the other thing we can’t change is parliamentary arithmetic.

“And so what is the challenge now? The challenge is to show that the progressives in British politics are on people’s side.

“We are in a bit of a bind. We’ve had three very poor election results, very disappointing, in five years. I’ve got to rebuild the Liberal Democrats. And I’m not going to be diverted and distracted like we were on Brexit. I’m going to focus on rebuilding the Liberal Democrats.”


Davey has made the Lib Dems the voice of Britain’s disabled people, often worse-affected by the pandemic.


However, his stance is already being challenged by members. About 700 are said to have signed up to a conference motion to back rejoining the EU “preferably within 10 years”. A similar motion calling on the party to back EU membership in principle will be voted on at the virtual gathering.

Davey, who has set out to make the Lib Dems the voice of Britain’s carers, accused the government of damaging the rights of disabled people with its coronavirus laws. He revealed his MPs would vote against the renewal of the coronavirus legislation this week unless the rights of the disabled were protected. The Coronavirus Act relieves councils of some of their legal obligations to provide care should they feel the need to do so in order to cope with the pandemic.

“There’s some evidence showing that the pandemic has been hitting disabled people disproportionately,” said Davey, who has a disabled son and cared for his mother as a teenager.

“This is a time when they need more care, not less. I can’t stand by, the Liberal Democrats will not stand by, to see disabled people lose their rights, lose the care they need, when they need it the most.”

Asked how he now wanted voters to regard the Lib Dems, Davey repeated his leadership election priorities of “a greener economy and a fairer society in a more caring country”. However, the party had to “take some time” in trying to work out what voters are saying. “We’ve got to be humble enough to realise that we weren’t getting our message over.”

Davey said the departure of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader would help the Lib Dem revival in seats where it was competing against the Tories. He said the fear of a Corbyn government had hindered the party at the last election. “Corbyn was not helpful to us in our key marginals with the Tories. And the only way we’re going to get Johnson out of No 10 is if Liberal Democrats win more Tory seats, and I’m determined we win many more seats off the Tories.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×