The Liberal Democrats leadership candidate speaks on climate change, broken immigration system, Brexit divide and working with Narendra Modi for stronger India-UK trade relations.
The Liberal Democrats are hoping to appear bigger than an alliance party in the Brexit driven political chaos that has crippled British politics in the last three years of its divorce from the EU. The Centrist party had been languishing in single digits up until last year and has seen a massive surge with a record 20% vote share polled on average in the recently conducted local and European elections. But, to crack through the two-party system of the UK, it needs to drive policy discussions on subjects beyond Brexit, issues that Liberal Democrat hopeful Ed Davey has been actively campaigning for.
Decarbonising capitalism: Focus on consumption of solar energy
“For me, climate change is and should be the the most pressing concern that needs to be addressed immediately,” said Davey in an exclusive interview to Asian Voice.
The former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change had the opportunity of travelling to India after Prime Minister Modi had just assumed office in 2014. Being part of the UK's trade delegation, Davey had the opportunity of discussing policy frameworks around consumption of renewable resources, harnessing solar energy and “Namami Gange"- India's drive to clean river Ganges. Generation of electricity from coal in the UK has decreased from 124 TWh in 2008 to 17 TWh in 2018, a sharp decline of 86 per cent as disclosed in a report published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
“The main learning that I had from Modi's climate change policy was his focus on consumption of solar, greener and cleaner energy. And as a former Chief Minister of Gujarat he had attracted heavy investment into the state owing to the establishment of a more secure energy supply system.
“His pamphlet, 'Convene Action' where he had rooted his strong intent of establishing a clean environment to his core Hindu beliefs was an extremely powerful campaign in my belief,” said the Member of Parliament for Kingston and Surbiton.
Discussing Modi's rural electrification programme and the micro-solar sights, he has formulated a new economic plan with the aim of “decarbonising capitalism” to “radically reduce the UK's reliance on fossil fuels”. Earlier in 2014, in his speech to Autumn Conference he had proposed to to ban the generation of electricity by coal from 2025, if they were to form the Government- and they did form the government in 2010.
Home Office's mishandling of immigration and India-EU Free Trade Agreement
Today, there have been countless occasions when Davey has defended his party's time in coalition with the Tories during David Cameron's premiership. However, he has also been on record to state that they were wrong to agree with harsh immigration measures such as minimum income thresholds for families. Attacking Theresa May's Hostile Environment policy and her approach towards tackling illegal immigration, Davey has now launched a fresh charge against Mrs May both in the context of handling the subject of International Students' Visa Scandal and Highly Skilled Migrants. Discussing about facilitating stronger UK-India trade ties through the Indian diaspora present in the UK, the former Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry today, gives an insight into the publication of his white paper “Trade and Investment”.
“At the EU summit, I remember we were trying to promote India-EU Free Trade Agreement. But when it came to the Cabinet Committee, Theresa May, then Home Secretary, was the strongest voice of opposition as she feared that it would undermine her efforts to control immigration.Both Vince [Cable] and I argued against her policy knowing the contribution of some of the Indian students and professionals to our economy.
“We could have achieved a great trade deal with the EU and India but we had to back track because of her and now outside of the EU we would be in a less advantageous position for achieving a deal with India as we would have less to offer from our end,” he discloses.
The party's current policy paper on immigration does not address any form of post-Brexit immigration system or shed light on whether the EU migrants should be given preferential treatment, as the Party is actively advocating against the UK's departure from the EU. The paper proposes taking away immigration policy from the Home Office’s remit, and instead plans on dividing the brief between departments where BEIS would make policy on work permits, the Department for Education would oversee student visa policy, and the Department for International Development would make asylum policy.
Addressing the current leadership race in the Conservative Party, with Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, as one of the Prime Ministerial candidates, he has spoken about his failure to address issues around immigration and political asylum.
“Millions of people around the world have been forced to flee their homes by war and persecution, and the Conservative Government’s response is woefully inadequate. The Home Secretary falls far short of the 10,000 refugees a year that the Liberal Democrats have been calling to be resettled here, and there is nothing in it for the unaccompanied refugee children still sleeping rough in northern France,” he said.
Davey is contesting against Jo Swinson for the Liberal Democrat leadership and the new leader leader will be announced on 23rd July.
