VULNERABLE people and those who need care are to be made e a top priority for the Liberal Democrats, according to its interim leader.
Sir Ed Davey said his party needed to focus on issues which matter to voters, including climate change and care provision for elderly people as well as adults with learning difficulties who have no family.
Speaking to the Herald, the MP said his own experiences have helped shape his view on the need for drastic improvement in the financial and practical support available for carers, as well as measures available for those who are alone.
Davey, who stepped in to lead his party following the resignation of Jo Swinson last year, has a disabled son and he became the family breadwinner so his wife could care for him.He has previously told of his frustration at disabled people being “written off” or assumed “they are stupid” if they are unable to communicate, like his own son.
He explained: “A lot of people who need care or who are caring for relatives suffer dramatically financially.
“I have a disabled son, my wife couldn’t work. It has had a massive impact on our finances.
“We’re alright now, we are relatively well off, but I know for my constituents if they have to take time off to look after an elderly relative, it massively impacts their income.
“The biggest burning platform in terms of local authority finance is the numbers of people we have to look after.
“Their parents are either very elderly or dead, we have these adults who can’t work and need looking after. We don’t talk about it. I’m going to talk about it, because it’s a massive issue and one quite close to my heart. “
Davey said that along with a drive to improve the lives of carers and those they look after, he believes climate change should continue to be one of his party’s biggest campaign issues, regardless of who becomes the next leader.
He hit out at the SNP’s support for a third runway at Heathrow, describing Nicola Sturgeon’s position on the project as “utterly ludicrous”. Davey also said that COP26 planning and talks have not gone far enough, having been involved in several of the international conferences in the past.
He said: “If the host country is not getting a grip, there are problems. These are the most important talks, more important than Brexit.
“They are happening in Glasgow, months away, and we have Downing Street and Bute House at loggerheads. One wants to say to Sturgeon and Johnson ‘grow up. This is a climate emergency – your egos are not what’s at stake’. I am deeply disappointed.
“Where I have pushed very hard is on our support high speed railway whether its HS2, east-west links or building a wider high speed network. If we are going to have a climate resilient economy, we have to allow people to move around. The fewer flights that can be taken and the more journeys on rail, the better.”
Asked about Jo Swinson’s potential return to politics, Davey said he would “warmly welcome it” and added: “I miss her, I think the party misses her and she has so much to offer. She should be given plenty of space and time to decide what she wants to do.”
While happy to discuss his views on Swinson, he was less enthusiastic to talk about another former leader - Lord David Steel- whose conduct was called in to question following the publication of a report into child sex abuse within Westminster.
Steel resigned from the LibDems, and retired from public life last month, the day an indepedent inquiry report report concluded he was aware of child abuse by former MP Cyril Smith but took no action.
The party came under fire as it had conducted its own prior internal investigation into what Steel knew about the abuse, and ruled that he had done nothing wrong, contradicting the latest inquiry.
Davey did acknowledge that his party must “learn the lessons” from the Steel affair, but added:” I think It’s very important that David has taken the decision that he has taken, beyond that its always important that any party on any issue involving such serious matters keeps it procedures under review. We must make sure we always do better. We must learn the lessons.”
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