Tag Archives: ed davey

Our final PEB: What happens if we get a bad Brexit deal?

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 2nd June 2017 - 9:50 am

Here’s a clip from our final Party Election Broadcast of the campaign which is airing today:

Posted in News | Also tagged general election 2017 and party election broadcasts | 39 Comments

Big beasts

By Mary Reid | Mon 8th May 2017 - 1:52 pm

A press release from the Liberal Democrats today announces that ‘Big beasts return to Lib Dem front line as Farron announces election campaign team‘.

I’m not sure whether Jo Swinson, Vince Cable and Ed Davey like being referred to as beasts – what sort might they be?

But here is the full list of the new General Election Campaign Team:

Posted in News | Also tagged 2017 general election, Jo Swinson and vince cable | 23 Comments

Battle Bus debuts in Surbiton

By Olly Wehring | Mon 1st May 2017 - 2:01 pm

Around 300 people braved the drizzle this morning in Surbiton, west London, to welcome the Liberal Democrat battle bus as it embarks on a tour of the country ahead of next month’s election.

Party leader Tim Farron was joined by Sarah Olney, MP for nearby Richmond Park & North Kingston, along with former cabinet ministers and parliamentary candidates Vince Cable and Ed Davey. The pair are standing in Twickenham and Kingston & Surbiton constituencies, respectively.

Addressing the crowd, Tim Farron acknowledged the “Lake District-style weather”, before attacking both the Conservatives and Labour.

The worst governments are the ones with the weakest oppositions. There is a vacancy for an opposition in this country, and the Liberal Democrats are here to fill it.

This will not be a coronation. This will be a contest.

Posted in News | Also tagged 2017 general election, sarah olney, tim farron and vince cable | 20 Comments

LibLink: Ed Davey says Government is “butchering UK’s renewables”

By The Voice | Wed 6th January 2016 - 1:13 pm

Embed from Getty Images

BusinessGreen refers to some of Ed Davey’s recent comments as a ‘blistering attack’ in which he ‘slams Conservative ministers’.

He was responding to some research, including Freedom of Information requests, that was carried out by the Carbon Brief. In a nutshell, Conservative ministers have been claiming that household energy bills were rising because of a projected overspend of £1.5 billion by 2020 on subsidies for clean energy. Hence, they claim there was an urgent need to cut the subsidies for renewables.

But the disclosed emails between officials at the Department of Energy and Climate Change show that by last summer they already knew that energy bills would be 7% lower than originally projected.

According to BusinessGreen, Ed Davey claimed that ‘the revelations provided further evidence the government had slashed renewable energy subsidies on the false premise there was excessive upward pressure on energy bills. He also urged ministers to now release the full detail of the calculations used to project a £1.5bn overspend.’

Posted in News | Also tagged energy bills, featured and renewable energy | 6 Comments

Lib Dems in the New Year Honours

By The Voice | Thu 31st December 2015 - 8:25 am

The New Year Honours were announced late last night. We have trawled through the list and have spotted a couple of prominent Liberal Democrats.

But we are sure there are others known to you, our readers. Please let us know in the comments about anyone we have missed, and we’ll add them to this post.

Posted in News | Also tagged sylvia emmott | 26 Comments

Ed Davey writes…Nous sommes Paris

By Ed Davey | Sun 13th December 2015 - 2:05 pm

Wow! How did that happen? The United Nations has just agreed the first ever universal climate deal – and it’s better for the global environment than anyone had dared hope for.

For once, believe hyperbole: this is the most significant international agreement since the establishment of the United Nations in 1945.

Here’s just 5 things from Paris that make this so good:

In the run up to Paris, more than 180 countries made commitments to cut emissions significantly;

They agreed a surprisingly strong 5 year review or “ratchet” mechanism for bolder future commitments to cut emissions further;
They backed a new long term goal to make sure global warming stays “well below” 2 degrees Celsius, heading to greenhouse gas neutrality in the second half of this century – meaning the effective ending of fossil fuels;
Increased support for poorer countries to help them – whether in the low carbon transition or in adapting to climate change impacts already with us;
Huge progress on the “rules” for how we decarbonise the world, including key technical stuff on audit and accounting and crucially, strong transparency rules, so we know what countries are actually doing.
And if you don’t believe me, listen to the majority of NGOs: from Greenpeace to Christian Aid, there’s been a huge welcome. And those businesses and financial institutions who take climate seriously are predicting a massive rise in investment in clean green technology.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged climate change, cop21 and paris climate talks | 16 Comments

Ed Davey warns about alliances between anti EU campaigners and climate change deniers

By The Voice | Thu 10th December 2015 - 10:15 am

Former Liberal Democrat Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey has warned about alliances developing between climate change sceptics and anti EU campaigners.

The Guardian reports that he has written to the head of the Vote Leave campaign to point out the damage associating with those who dispute climate change could do to their campaign and, ultimately, to the UK’s international reputation:

Davey writes: “The campaign you lead, Vote Leave, seems ready to ally itself with climate change deniers who are on the wrong side of scientific evidence and international consensus … If you will not unequivocally distance yourself from both

…

Posted in News | Also tagged climate change and eu referendum | 24 Comments

Lynne Featherstone writes… Tories’ huge backward step on climate change

By Lynne Featherstone | Wed 18th November 2015 - 12:10 pm

Today the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Amber Rudd, will give a speech to update us all on the Government’s energy policy. What she will say has been widely trailed and it contains some seriously bad news.

The last six months have seen a relentless and systematic unravelling of the excellent work done by Ed Davey to develop the green economy. The Government is now going one step further to deprioritise decarbonisation as a main goal, in favour of making energy security its number one priority. It does not seem to realise it is possible to deliver on both.

Amber Rudd will say she plans to curb the growth of renewable industries even further, with the logical conclusion that there must be an increase in nuclear and gas to meet energy needs. This means expensive subsidies paid to other countries, rather than investment in renewables in the UK, and also fracking.

The most baffling aspect of the Government’s abandonment of the renewable sector is the fact there is such a strong business case for investing in green industries. We might understand their actions if it was just about environmental concern, which Conservatives have never been strong on, and we know of the power wielded by backbench climate-change deniers and fossil fuel lobbyists. But to ignore the long-term economic case in favour of short-term cash gains is extraordinary. The UK has been a world leader in this sector and continuing to invest and develop these job-creating industries while we have a competitive advantage and while the costs of producing renewable energy are plummeting is simply good economic sense.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged climate change and featured | 18 Comments

LibLink: Ed Davey: The Tories are trying to kill off our renewable energy boom

By NewsHound | Sun 25th October 2015 - 10:25 am

View image | gettyimages.com

Former Lib Dem Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey has condemned the way that the Conservatives governing alone are trashing all he did to create a boom in clean, planet-saving renewable energy:

My experience as energy and climate change secretary – in the months I spent battling George Osborne over the budget for investment in low carbon, and in the daily attrition with Eric Pickles over onshore wind – was that many Conservatives simply regard their commitment to climate change action as something they had to say to get into power. With some honourable exceptions, most Conservatives I worked with seemed to view Lib Dem green energy policies as part of the political price they paid for the coalition.

Happily, the Conservatives cannot undo much of what the coalition achieved: from the trebling of the UK’s renewable power capacity to the 27 contracts I signed in March for more renewable power plants to be built over the next few years, the Lib Dems’ green legacy stands. I have heard that the chancellor has asked if he can get out of the contracts I signed. But he can’t. So I’m looking forward to Conservative ministers opening onshore and offshore wind farms that I commissioned.

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged renewable enegy and the guardian | 13 Comments

Farron and Davey attack Tories’ “systematic unravelling” of our commitment to tackle climate change

By The Voice | Wed 21st October 2015 - 12:55 pm

Tim Farron and Ed Davey have written to Davey’s Conservative successor as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Amber Rudd to challenge her on her record so far of undermining practically everything the Liberal Democrats brought to the table. They warn her that her actions jeopardise the UK’s chances of meeting legally binding climate change targets. Their full letter is published below:

We are writing to you regarding our concerns for the future of Britain’s renewable industries and our global leadership on climate change.

We are utterly appalled at the systematic unravelling of the renewables industries that is taking place under your leadership. We stand with business executives, trade associations and environmental NGOs and call for an end to this ideological assault on green energy which is economically nonsensical and is undermining Britain’s ability to push for a more ambitious global Climate Change Treaty at the UN in Paris this December.

Despite your statement in May this year that you planned to unleash a ‘solar revolution’, your department has enacted a series of devastating policies which make a mockery of this and will ultimately dismantle much of the work on green policy that the Liberal Democrats achieved in Government, costing thousands of jobs and jeopardising our economic future. Severe cuts to solar and wind subsidies, as well as ending the Green Deal and abolishing Zero Carbon Homes, together mean that progress towards tackling climate change is fundamentally undermined.

Posted in News | Also tagged climate change and tim farron | 9 Comments

Carmichael and Davey blast Tories’ withdrawal of subsidies for onshore wind

By The Voice | Sat 20th June 2015 - 11:59 am

We know that during the coalition years the Liberal Democrats ensured subsidies for onshore wind. The Guardian managed to give precisely 2 and a bit lines at the bottom of their report to Ed Davey. He was the Energy and Climate Change Secretary who fought tooth and nail to protect renewables, but there’s no mention of that. Ed is quoted as saying:

Anti-wind power Tories will put up electricity bills, cut green jobs and reduce investment.

Alistair Carmichael also took the Tories to task for what he called a “lamentable sop to the Tory right.”

This is full-throttle Tory energy policy.

Their decision to end the renewables obligation for onshore wind is a backwards step for the UK’s energy mix.

It is a lamentable sop to the Tory right-wing who would sooner have us concede the battle on climate change than commit properly to renewables. This blinkered and outdated view of the world is bad news for the environment, but it is also bad news for jobs and investment.

In coalition government Liberal Democrats blocked these madcap Tory ideas. In opposition, we will lead the campaign against them.

Posted in News | Also tagged Alistair Carmichael, climate change, environment and wind power | 6 Comments

Ed Davey critical of climate change targets

By The Voice | Wed 10th June 2015 - 3:43 pm

View image | gettyimages.com

On Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday, Ed Davey was highly critical of the G7’s pledge to phase out fossil fuels by the end of the century.

He said:

It is so symbolic for the G7, the largest, richest countries in the world who have built their economies on fossil fuels, to say they’ve got to get rid of them. It’s definitely historic and symbolic.

But I have two concerns though. They are talking about the end of the century, and I don’t think climate science says we have got that long. I think we have to move further and faster.

And I also worry that if you set targets that are so long – 85 years away – I’m not sure how meaningful they are. I think it would give some countries an excuse for inaction, when they’ve got to be acting now, in this current decade.

At the end of this year we’ve got the very important Climate Change Summit in Paris. I hope we are not going to end up at that summit talking about targets at the end of the century. We need to be talking about targets at the end of the next decade.

Posted in News | Also tagged climate change | 10 Comments

What’s happening on P-31, Monday 6th April?

By Mary Reid | Mon 6th April 2015 - 8:29 am

As any activist knows, Bank Holiday Mondays during an election campaign are not given to us for fun days out but for extra deliveries and canvassing. In most years, though not all, we get the use of the Easter Bank Holiday Monday as well as the May Bank Holiday during the short campaign.

The big yellow battlebus, with Nick Clegg and media on board, continues its journey around the target seats. This morning it will be stopping in Surbiton, home of Ed Davey and his team (including me). There’s a large local party, a …

Posted in News | Also tagged don foster, nick clegg and steve bradley | 1 Comment

Ed Davey: It would be incredibly difficult to work with the Tories due to their views on the EU and green issues

By Paul Walter | Sun 29th March 2015 - 10:34 am

View image | gettyimages.com

The Observer reports

The Liberal Democrat energy secretary, Ed Davey, has hinted strongly that he would oppose a second coalition with the Tories because their policy on Europe amounts to “economic and environmental irresponsibility of the highest order”.

Posted in News | Also tagged 2015 election | 16 Comments

Victory for Lib Dems with announcement of world’s first tidal lagoon

By Mary Reid | Wed 18th March 2015 - 1:21 pm

The Chancellor has just announced that he will be opening formal negotiations which could lead to an investment of £1 billion in a world-first scheme to extract energy from tidal power.

Ed Davey has been working on this project for several years, so it is a great victory for Liberal Democrats in government, on the back of our other achievements on renewable energy. The UK is already the world leader on offshore wind, thanks to the Lib Dems.

The first tidal lagoon will be planned for Swansea Bay, as predicted in the Guardian this morning.

Posted in News | Also tagged renewable energy and tidal lagoon | 19 Comments

LibLink … Ed Davey: Britain must signal the beginning of the end for coal investment

By The Voice | Wed 18th March 2015 - 12:00 pm

Ed Davey writes in the Guardian:

For over 200 years, modern civilisation has been built on fossil fuels; now climate science says we must phase out fossil fuel pollution in just a few decades. That’s a colossal challenge – especially if we are to keep anything resembling current lifestyles while also ending the poverty that blights the lives of more than 1 billion fellow human beings.

We are already seeing a significant shift in thinking. The Rockefeller Foundation is divesting from coal and tar sands. Oxford University is considering similar action. And the Bank of England is analysing the impact on financial systems of fossil fuel investments becoming “stranded assets” – in other words worthless – if the world gets its act together on climate change.

Posted in News | Also tagged energy and climate change and fossil fuels | 35 Comments

Davey and Cable defend free speech at universities from Tory attack

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st March 2015 - 10:19 pm

We know that during the passage of the Counter Terrorism and Security Act, Liberal Democrat peers Sal Brinton and Margaret Sharp tried to amend the bill to strengthen the duty on universities to preserve freedom of speech. Senior Tories couldn’t see why that was so important, sadly.

The Observer reports that Conservative and Liberal Democrat ministers, especially Vince Cable, disagree about the planned guidance to be issued to universities about what they can and can’t allow on campus.

In the Sunday

…

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged civil liberties, counter-terrorism, featured and vince cable | 22 Comments

Independent on Sunday praises Nick Clegg and Ed Davey for “keeping the low carbon show on the road”

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st March 2015 - 3:53 pm

An Independent on Sunday editorial today acknowledges the contribution made by the Liberal Democrats to furthering the green agenda while in government. They give Nick Clegg and Ed Davey the credit for driving it forward in the face of opposition from our coalition partners, who come in for some criticism:

The IoS has been disappointed with the Conservatives’ record on the environment. We were prepared to give David Cameron the benefit of the doubt when he put a windmill on his roof and when he proclaimed his intention that the coalition would be the greenest government ever, but if Mr Davey is now able to make that qualified claim, it is despite Mr Cameron, not because of him.

The turning point was George Osborne’s “slowest ship in the convoy” speech to the Tory party conference in 2011, when he said Britain would go along with EU plans for green energy but would not be a leader.

Posted in News | Also tagged climate change, environment, general election 2015, green issues and low carbon | 29 Comments

Davey: Stop short-termist meddling in the energy markets

By Nick T | Thu 15th January 2015 - 9:01 am

The FT reports comments by Lib Dem energy secretary Ed Davey aimed in part at George Osborne over recent interventions by the chancellor into the energy market:

George Osborne has been accused by a cabinet colleague of damaging the energy sector after the chancellor threatened “action” against companies which failed to pass on falling oil prices to consumers.

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem energy secretary, said he did not know exactly what Mr Osborne was proposing and that such criticism of energy companies by politicians would “damage markets, investment and our economy”.

Posted in News | Also tagged energy | 12 Comments

Davey: We need to look at rules on transparency of fossil fuel investments

By NewsHound | Thu 11th December 2014 - 10:59 am

The Financial Times reports:

Britain’s energy secretary has called for tougher rules to be applied to companies holding “risky” fossil fuel assets that could plunge in value because of global action to tackle climate change.
Ed Davey’s move makes him one of the first senior politicians to weigh into a growing debate on the future of oil, gas and coal companies as governments work on sealing a global climate deal in Paris next year.

“We’re seeing a move from a carbon economy to a climate economy,” Mr Davey told reporters on the sidelines of UN talks in Lima shaping the Paris agreement.

Posted in News | Also tagged fossil fuels | 10 Comments

Ed Davey: Onshore windfarm opposition risks UK jobs

By Newsmoggie | Wed 12th November 2014 - 3:54 pm

The Guardian reports:

Energy secretary Ed Davey has warned that the Conservative party’s opposition to onshore wind turbines risks undermining the creation of British jobs as new data showed 15,400 people are now employed in the wind power industry.

Posted in News | Also tagged wind farms | 8 Comments

Ed Davey MP writes…Signed, sealed and delivered, an ambitious climate change deal for Europe

By Ed Davey | Fri 24th October 2014 - 7:22 pm

We’ve done it! For Liberal Democrats in government, this EU climate deal is our most significant green win so far. While Liberal Democrats are passionate about tackling climate change, the likes of Owen Paterson and UKIP seem to delight in talking down the threat that it poses, but that should make us even more determined to tell people why this deal is so crucial.

What have we achieved? An ambitious Europe-wide climate change deal that will see greenhouse gases cut by at least 40% by 2030. Other countries wanted a lower target, but I argued that the science demanded higher. And I was determined that if in next year’s UN climate talks other countries like the US and China show similar ambition, Europe should be ready to increase its efforts still further – so the words “at least” in the deal are more important than normal.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged climate change, eu and featured | 7 Comments

Ed Davey MP writes…Tackling climate change

By Ed Davey | Wed 24th September 2014 - 12:59 pm

I’m writing from the Climate Change Summit in New York, hosted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. While Liberal Democrats don’t need reminding just how much of a threat climate change is – from the increased risks of flooding, to the impact on the world’s poorest – I thought it timely to give you an update on the progress we’ve made and what comes next.

Posted in News | Also tagged climate change and un | 28 Comments

Ed Davey: Non-nuclear energy approach is “negligent” and “risky” #slfconf

By Paul Walter | Wed 23rd July 2014 - 10:25 am

On Monday, I summarised the appearances of Ed Davey at last weekend’s Social Liberal Forum conference in London. Here, I outline some of the views expressed and initiatives described by Ed on the day, including during a bloggers’ interview:

Using less energy

Fuel poverty is a serious issue. Energy inefficient building stock is a key cause.

The Green deal, Ed said, had not originally gone as well as it had been hoped. In Phase 1, there were just 250,000 assessments. Phase 2 is going better, and is on track to improve two million homes.

Posted in Events | Also tagged climate change and department for energy and climate change | 26 Comments

Lessons must be learned from the Jo Swinson speculation

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 12th July 2014 - 2:20 pm

On Thursday, George Eaton of the New Statesman blogged that Jo Swinson was about to replace Ed Davey in the forthcoming Cabinet reshuffle.

Today, the Guardian’s Nick Watt says that this is not the case and Jo is expected to become Secretary of State for Scotland in September after the independence referendum.

Nick Clegg, acutely conscious that the five Liberal Democrat cabinet ministers are all men, is expected to promote the business minister Jo Swinson to the cabinet. But she is expected to succeed Alistair Carmichael as Scotland secretary after September’s independence referendum in September if, as expected, the pro-Union side prevails. Carmichael would be praised for his role in the victory as Swinson took charge on introducing greater devolution to the Scottish parliament.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged Alistair Carmichael, cabinet reshuffle, george eaton, guardian, Jo Swinson, new statesman and nicholas watt | 36 Comments

Edward Davey MP writes… A better deal for people on ‘pre-payment’ energy meters

By Ed Davey | Wed 30th April 2014 - 1:15 pm

Liberal Democrats in Government are doing everything possible to help consumers with their energy bills. Just last week I announced that by the end of the year energy suppliers will halve the time it takes to switch energy supplier from the current five to two and a half weeks. This is just the first step to achieving my ambition of achieving 24 hour switching.

But there is more that can be done, and I have written to energy suppliers asking them to now focus on …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged energy bills and prepayment meters | 8 Comments

Opinion: European Commission is right to demand Ed Davey and the Coalition re-thinks on nuclear power

By Andrew Warren | Sun 23rd March 2014 - 2:30 pm

In October 2013, Lib Dem energy secretary Ed Davey set out his arguments for reversing his long-held antipathy to nuclear power. On behalf of the Coalition, he is applying to the European Commission to ensure that the measures he is promoting – to ensure construction of the first new nuclear power station in the UK for a generation – are compatible with the Single Market.

But now the Competition Directorate of the European Commission has sent a 70-page rebuttal to the UK Government, completely rejecting its arguments for subsidising the building of the Hinckley B nuclear power station in Somerset.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged european commission, hinckley point and nuclear power | 41 Comments

Ed Davey makes QR codes compulsory on energy bills

By NewsHound | Tue 11th March 2014 - 4:39 pm

According to the BBC: Energy bills to come with compulsory QR barcodes. This is one of Ed Davey’s initiatives as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. He explains:

The government hopes its plans will encourage the development of smartphone apps that let consumers swipe their phone over an energy bill to read data such as tariff and consumption.

The data could then be automatically uploaded to price comparison sites, to let consumers look at deals from other energy suppliers.

Posted in News | Also tagged edward davey and energy bills | 21 Comments

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Vince Cable writes…Labour and Fiscal Rules (Vince Cable)
Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy (Josh Babarinde)
Mathew on Monday: “We need to be bold” (Mathew Hulbert)

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Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

Alison Suttie writes: Thank you to our volunteers

What’s going on with party strategy?

A strange but welcome feeling

Tag Archives: ed davey

Our final PEB: What happens if we get a bad Brexit deal?

Big beasts

Battle Bus debuts in Surbiton

LibLink: Ed Davey says Government is “butchering UK’s renewables”

Lib Dems in the New Year Honours

Ed Davey writes…Nous sommes Paris

Ed Davey warns about alliances between anti EU campaigners and climate change deniers

Lynne Featherstone writes… Tories’ huge backward step on climate change

LibLink: Ed Davey: The Tories are trying to kill off our renewable energy boom

Farron and Davey attack Tories’ “systematic unravelling” of our commitment to tackle climate change

Carmichael and Davey blast Tories’ withdrawal of subsidies for onshore wind

Ed Davey critical of climate change targets

What’s happening on P-31, Monday 6th April?

Ed Davey: It would be incredibly difficult to work with the Tories due to their views on the EU and green issues

Victory for Lib Dems with announcement of world’s first tidal lagoon

LibLink … Ed Davey: Britain must signal the beginning of the end for coal investment

Davey and Cable defend free speech at universities from Tory attack

Independent on Sunday praises Nick Clegg and Ed Davey for “keeping the low carbon show on the road”

Davey: Stop short-termist meddling in the energy markets

Davey: We need to look at rules on transparency of fossil fuel investments

Ed Davey: Onshore windfarm opposition risks UK jobs

Ed Davey MP writes…Signed, sealed and delivered, an ambitious climate change deal for Europe

Ed Davey MP writes…Tackling climate change

Ed Davey: Non-nuclear energy approach is “negligent” and “risky” #slfconf

Using less energy

Lessons must be learned from the Jo Swinson speculation

Edward Davey MP writes… A better deal for people on ‘pre-payment’ energy meters

Opinion: European Commission is right to demand Ed Davey and the Coalition re-thinks on nuclear power

Ed Davey makes QR codes compulsory on energy bills

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A strange but welcome feeling

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