Sir Ed Davey: ‘Lib Dems can win in Hull again because they’ve listened’
‘CONFIDENT’: Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey
By Simon Bristow
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey says he is confident his party will retain control of Hull City Council at the Local Elections next month, and predicted they would “actually make gains”.
Sir Ed was speaking on a visit to Hull today in support of the party’s campaign for the poll on May 4, when it faces its first electoral test in the city since taking control of the Guildhall last year, ending more than a decade of Labour rule.
Asked if last year’s win in Hull had been a one-off in a city that consistently elects three Labour MPs, Sir Ed told The Hull Story: “No, I’m convinced that the Liberal Democrats will hold onto the council and actually make gains, and it’s because local Liberal Democrats have really listened to the communities, worked with them, on everything from improving local neighbourhoods to tackling crime to dealing with the gridlock that’s happened in Hull.
“And I think political parties at community level can really do well if they take that type of community politics.”
Next month’s Local Elections are also the first time voters in England will have to produce photographic ID to vote, which Sir Ed called “anti-democratic” and “quite wrong”.
In a hard-hitting interview, he also branded the Government’s Levelling Up agenda “a joke”, and said the rise in the use of food banks during the cost of living crisis was “a national scandal”.
‘VOTER ID HAS NO PLACE IN MODERN BRITAIN’: Sir Ed Davey
Although Hull has received Levelling Up funding, in January the city failed in a combined bid for £53.5m which would have been used to refurbish Hull City Hall and introduce a park and ride service in Kingswood. That round of funding saw £19m awarded to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s affluent constituency in North Yorkshire.
Sir Ed said: “I’ve been coming to Hull for twenty years now, working with the local Liberal Democrats, and there’s no doubt that Hull does need more investment.
“When I was the Cabinet Minister in charge of energy and climate change I fought very hard to get Siemens to come to Hull to build the offshore wind turbine blades and for that massive investment in the port as a real boost to the local economy, which had been hard hit for decades with a decline in fishing, the decline in the docks, and I think that was a massive boost which I’m really proud that Liberal Democrats nationally and locally led on. But it needs much more.
“The Conservatives’ Levelling Up agenda is a joke, frankly. The idea that they prefer Rishi Sunak’s constituency over Hull, the idea that’s a priority over Hull showed what a joke the whole programme is.
“We all want to level up, it’s nothing to do with the Conservatives – everybody should want to level up – the question is which party’s had a record of doing that and I’m very proud that Liberal Democrats’ support for renewable energy and renewable power to get the climate transition has brought jobs, not just to Hull and places like Grimsby, but all round the country.
“And I think that’s the way to do it. You need to look at what the economic requirements are for the country and how investment in those can bring prosperity to all parts of the country. Liberal Democrats are completely committed to that energy revolution to bring the jobs and to cut people’s bills.”
‘I’M PROUD OF OUR RECORD’: Sir Ed Davey, right, speaking to The Hull Story
Asked about the use of food banks, including by people who are working and struggling to make ends meet, the Lib Dem leader said: “It’s a national scandal. And the need to make sure we help people who are struggling to tackle inequality and poverty has never been greater. The question is how you’re going to do it, and I’m proud that it was the Liberal Democrats who led the argument for a windfall tax on the dramatic profits of the oil and gas companies, which were massively boosted when President Putin invaded Ukraine.
“And we wanted to use the proceeds of a proper windfall tax to give people far more generous support with their energy bills and to help businesses that are struggling with their energy costs too. And the Government are now withdrawing a lot of that support, particularly for businesses.
“They haven’t been as generous as they could have been for ordinary households, and the support we were advocating, which would have been fully funded by a proper windfall tax, would have targeted the most money on the people who were struggling the most.”
On the issue of voter ID, Sir Ed said: “Well, the Liberal Democrats opposed voter ID in both houses of Parliament. I voted against it. All my Liberal Democrat colleagues voted against it. We did so because it’s an anti-democratic policy, costing a fortune, which has no place in modern Britain.
“The Conservatives were totally unable to justify this introduction of voter ID. They tried to suggest there’d been voter fraud as their excuse, yet there was no independent expert anywhere who agreed with the Government.
“Many independent observers agreed with us that this looked like it was a way to stop people voting. And to give you one example, which I think is so disturbing, they’re allowing bus passes of pensioners to be used as photographic ID; they are not allowing the bus passes for young people to be used as photographic ID. That seems to be an open and shut case of a shocking anti-democratic move, totally unjustified, by the Conservatives. Quite wrong.”
Sir Ed was speaking to the media at Caspar cafe in Newland Avenue, where he was invited to sample some of the 26 ice-creams on sale.
Choosing two, he said: “I think mango because it’s the right colour, and probably the lemon sorbet because it’s also the right colour. It’s what you call politics by ice-cream. It’s the winning ice-cream.”
Liberal Democrat city council leader Mike Ross, who was also at the event, said he was also optimistic about the party’s chances.
He said: “I think we are going into these elections in an optimistic and confident mood. What got us back in control last year was a sense that people were being let down by a Labour council group that had stopped listening to them, and over the last year we have not seen a change of approach from our Labour opponents.
“But also, there’s a recognition that under this Liberal Democrat leadership the public are getting that sort of approach. We have been a council that is very much about engaging with the views of local residents and putting them at the heart of the action we are taking.
“We know also there are definitely seats out there that can come our way at this election, and potentially some we could take by surprise, so that gives us all a sense of quiet optimism going into this year’s Local Elections.”
‘THEY’VE DONE NOTHING’: Hull Labour group leader Daren Hale. Picture by Neil Holmes Photography
Yesterday, Hull’s Labour group said it would “contest every seat” with a field of candidates that “represent the diversity of the city in age, gender and ethnicity”.
It said in a statement: “Labour will fight this election to regain the council from a party that continues to ‘gaslight’ the Hull public with false promises and falsehoods on the doorsteps of the city, while cutting vital services to vulnerable people and spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on vanity projects that make little difference to the city.”
Labour group leader, Councillor Daren Hale, said: “While the Liberal Democrat spin doctors churn out nonsense every week the reality that citizens of Hull see is that they have actually done nothing in the last year. We said this would be the case because their promises on the doorsteps last year were nonsense and done just to steal votes.
“On the doorsteps around Hull people tell us that they feel betrayed by the Lib Dems and are angry with them. They feel taken for granted and conned by the Lib Dems.”
The Lib Dems currently have 29 councillors in Hull to Labour’s 27, with one non-aligned member also sitting on the authority.
A full list of candidates and information about the elections is available here.