The new opposition: an interview with Ed Davey

When Boris Johnson sought to extend the government’s emergency powers for another six months last week, he faced little opposition in the Commons. Rather than fight for parliament’s right to scrutinise the government, Keir Starmer told Labour MPs to vote with the Tories. There was only one party of opposition: the Liberal Democrats. Ed Davey, the party leader, complained in parliament about the ‘draconian’ powers taken by the government, and whipped his MPs to vote against them.

The 11 Lib Dem MPs are a much-depleted force from the 57-strong party that propped up David Cameron in the coalition years. After they have spent years struggling to find ways to be heard, could a rediscovery of liberalism do the trick?

Political interviews cannot take place in parliament, so I met Davey over Zoom. This is an example, he says, of the wider problem. ‘The fact that we have had to have a virtual parliament — because of Covid — has handed more power to the government,’ he says. ‘People aren’t having those informal discussions or informal groupings. Politics works on a people level. If you’re not there in the tea rooms, in the lobbies, bumping into people, to be honest you can’t plot! You can’t get that cross-party fertilisation. That gives more power to the executive.’

Johnson once made similar arguments, railing against identity cards. Now he’s suggesting immunity certificates could be needed to go to the pub. ‘I worry this is part of a trend,’ says Davey. ‘We are seeing, I think, some creeping authoritarianism from them.’ He says the current police bill, which allows protests to be banned if they are ‘causing public nuisance’, is another example of Tory overreach.

‘I can’t believe that a Conservative government is saying that the police can stop a protest just because they think it’s a bit noisy.