Last night Liberal Reform hosted a Question and Answer session with Ed Davey and Layla Moran, the two Lib Dem MPs battling it out to become the next leader of the Party. You can watch the Q&A back in its entirety at the bottom of this page.
The evening was no doubt a positive one for Liberal Reform’s members, with the two candidates answering a whole host of questions on topics close to our members’ hearts.
Both candidates welcomed the views of Liberal Reform and argued that our members have an important role to play in the debate within our Party. Layla Moran said that Liberal Reform’s values are a key part of the Party’s philosophy, while Ed Davey echoed that sentiment by saying that economic liberalism had existed within the Party for 200 years and should continue to do so.
Rottingdean Other highlights included..
On housing, both candidates pointed to a strong record of housebuilding in their area. Layla Moran said that she was “not adverse” to building on the green belt, while Ed Davey championed the idea of community land auctions to get community support for housebuilding.
On personal liberties, Ed Davey failed to categorically rule out support for policies such as minimum-unit alcohol pricing and the sugar tax, but argued that Boris Johnson had become “the nanny state personified”. Layla Moran meanwhile said that “in her heart of hearts” she was uncomfortable with both policies, calling them regressive.
On nationalisation, Layla Moran said that she was not in favour of renationalisation for nationalisation’s sake, but said that she believed the key test to be whether markets are delivering for consumers, and if they are not then there should be more state intervention. On the same subject, Ed Davey said that he had looked at the nationalisation vs private provision argument a lot whilst working as an economist, and had come to the conclusion that the state is “not a great operator.” When asked if Labour’s renationalisation plans would make a good relationship between the two parties harder, Layla Moran agreed that it would make it “more difficult”, while Ed Davey said that he would convince Keir Starmer to drop the plans in any future coalition agreement, even if it meant the Labour leader blaming it on the Lib Dems when explaining himself to his Momentumite left wing.
Thank you to all who attended last night’s event, and in particular thanks to Ed, Layla, and our chair Tom Morrison for giving up their time to speak to us. If you would like to support the work of Liberal Reform, you can become a paid member here, or donate here.
Watch in full here:
