Lib Dem leader Ed Davey refuses six times to say whether coalition-era austerity was a mistake
Sir Ed Davey has refused six times to say whether austerity was a mistake in an interview with Sky News.
The Liberal Democrat leader also specifically denied that the austerity policies his party implemented alongside the Conservatives were to blame for the current crisis facing the NHS – which he is promising to “save” if his party wins power on 4 July.
In an interview with Sky News deputy political editor Sam Coates, he said the “real, big problems” facing the health service began under the Conservatives in 2015, when the coalition between David Cameron and Nick Clegg came to an end.
But challenged on whether the reorganisation of the NHS that happened on his watch was to blame for the current crisis facing the health service, Sir Ed said: “I think the Conservatives have been in power for last nine years and they failed.”
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The Lib Dems, led by Nick Clegg, entered into a coalition with David Cameron’s Conservatives in the 2010 election until the latter secured a slim majority in the subsequent 2015 election.
During that time, the coalition implemented austerity policies that slashed public expenditure following the 2008 financial crisis, with the NHS one of a number of services hit.
Analysis: Why Lib Dems’ manifesto is far less ambitious than previous one
Ed Davey on a ride at Thorpe Park during the general election campaign. Pic: Reuters
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A King’s Fund report in April found the health service had “declined since 2010, as a result of much lower funding increases, limited funds for capital investment and neglect of workforce planning”.
A number of Lib Dem politicians – including former business secretary Sir Vince Cable and former leader Jo Swinson – have expressed regret for austerity and conceded that it may have cost them votes in the 2015 election, when the party was reduced to just eight MPs.
In her conference speech in 2018, Ms Swinson – who was a junior minister in the coalition government – told Lib Dem members: “Negotiating with the Conservatives meant compromise and some of those compromises sucked. We should have done more.”
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What is in the Lib Dem manifesto?
Manifesto to ‘save’ the NHS
Sir Ed has put the pledge to “save” the NHS and fix social care at the heart of his election manifesto, which was published today.
The party leader said the Liberal Democrats would spend £9bn fixing the health and social care system, including plans to recruit 8,000 more GPs, the right to see a GP within seven days, and a boost cancer survival rates.
He said it was “a manifesto to save the NHS”.
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Davey ‘touched’ by care messages
But asked by Coates whether such promises to fix the NHS and social care were needed only to repair issues caused by the coalition, Sir Ed argued his party pushed for measures on care for the elderly and disabled people when in office, but the Tories “broke their promises”.
“When the Tories were by themselves, they took an absolute axe to some of the poorest people in our country, and that was absolutely shocking,” he said.
“And I am really proud that we managed to stop them for so long.”
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Pushed again over his refusal to say if he endorsed the decisions made by the coalition, the Lib Dem leader replied: “Well, I’m telling you Sam, I fought Conservatives every day and in this election I’ve made it clear there is no way we will allow the Conservatives back into office.
“They are out of ideas and excuses and need to be out of office. Every vote for a Liberal Democrat will be a vote for a great champion to put forward those policies to rescue our NHS and to get the Conservatives out of government.”
As well as the NHS, social care has also been placed front and centre of Sir Ed’s pitch to voters.
The Liberal Democrat leader has spoken candidly of his experience caring for his disabled son and, as a child, looking after his terminally ill mother.
He said his manifesto is the first in the party’s history to include a dedicated chapter on care, with pledges including free personal care for the elderly and the disabled and a higher salary for care workers, set £2 above the minimum wage.
Tulip Siddiq has told Sky News her “lawyers are ready” to handle any formal questions about allegations she is involved in corruption in Bangladesh.
Asked whether she regrets apparent links with the Bangladeshi Awami League political party, Ms Siddiq said “why don’t you look at my legal letter and see if I have any questions to answer… [the Bangladeshi authorities] have not once contacted me and I’m waiting to hear from them”.
The London MP resigned as a Treasury minister in January after being named in several corruption inquiries in Bangladesh.
In her first public comments since leaving government, Ms Siddiq said “there’s been allegations for months on end and no one has contacted me”.
Last month, the interim leader of Bangladesh told Sky News the MP had “wealth left behind” in the country “and should be made responsible”.
Lawyers acting for Ms Siddiq wrote to the Bangladeshi Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) several weeks ago saying the allegations were “false and vexatious”.
The letter said the ACC must put questions to Ms Siddiq “by no later than 25 March 2025” or “we shall presume that there are no legitimate questions to answer”.
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Staff from the NCA visited Bangladesh as part of initial work to support the interim government in the country.
In a post online today, the former minister said the deadline had expired and the authorities had not replied.
Sky News has approached the Bangladeshi government for comment.
The allegations against Ms Siddiq are focused on links to her aunt Sheikh Hasina – who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh for 20 years.
Ms Hasina was forced to flee the country in August following weeks of deadly protests.
She is accused of becoming an autocrat, with politically-motivated arrests, extra-judicial killings and other abuses allegedly happening on her watch. Hasina claims it’s all a political witch hunt.
Electrocuted on their genitals and mouths sewn up: Inside Bangladesh’s ‘death squad’ jails
Ms Siddiq was found to have lived in several London properties that had links back to the Awami League political party that her aunt still leads.
She referred herself to the prime minister’s standards adviser Sir Laurie Magnus who said he had “not identified evidence of improprieties” but added it was “regrettable” Ms Siddiq had not been more alert to the “potential reputational risks” of the ties to her aunt.
Ms Siddiq said continuing in her role would be “a distraction” for the government but insisted she had done nothing wrong.
Cryptocurrency exchange OKX reportedly hired former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to advise it over the federal probe that resulted in the firm pleading guilty to several violations and agreeing to pay $505 million in fines and penalties.
Cuomo, a New York-registered attorney, advised OKX on legal issues stemming from the probe sometime after August 2021 when he resigned as New York overnor, Bloomberg reported on April 2, citing people familiar with the matter.
“He spoke with company executives regularly and counseled them on how to respond to the criminal investigation,” Bloomberg said.
The Seychelles-based firm pled guilty to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business in violation of US Anti-Money Laundering laws on Feb. 24 and agreed to pay $84 million worth of penalties while forfeiting $421 million worth of fees earned from mostly institutional clients.
The breaches occurred from 2018 to 2024 despite OKX having an official policy preventing US persons from transacting on its crypto exchange since 2017, the Department of Justice noted at the time.
A spokesperson for Cuomo, Rich Azzopardi, told Bloomberg that Cuomo has been providing private legal services representing individuals and corporations on a variety of matters since resigning as New York governor.
“He has not represented clients before a New York city or state agency and routinely recommends former colleagues for positions,” Azzopardi added.
OKX reportedly wasn’t willing to comment on its relationships with outside firms.
Cuomo also influenced OKX to make executive appointments: Bloomberg
Cuomo, who is now running for mayor of New York City, also advised OKX to appoint his friend US Attorney Linda Lacewell to OKX’s board of directors, Bloomberg said.
Lacewell, a former superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, was added to the board in 2024 and was named OKX’s new chief legal officer on April 1, according to a recent company statement.
Source: Linda Lacewell
Related: New York bill aims to protect crypto investors from memecoin rug pulls
After the investigation concluded, OKX said it would seek out a compliance consultant to remedy the issues stemming from the federal probe and bolster its regulatory compliance program.
“Our vision is to make OKX the gold standard of global compliance at scale across different markets and their respective regulatory bodies,” OKX CEO Star Xu said in a Feb. 24 X post.
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United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
The reciprocal levies on will be approximately half of what trading partners charge for US imports, Trump said. For example, China currently has a tariff of 67% on US imports, so US reciprocal tariffs on Chinese goods will be 34%. Trump also announced a standard 25% tariff on all automobile imports.
Trump told the media that tariffs would return the country to economic prosperity seen in previous centuries:
“From 1789 to 1913, we were a tariff-backed nation. The United States was proportionately the wealthiest it has ever been. So wealthy, in fact, that in the 1880s, they established a commission to decide what they were going to do with the vast sums of money they were collecting.”
“Then, in 1913, for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so that citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying,” Trump said.
Full breakdown of reciprocal tariffs by country. Source: Cointelegraph
Trump presented the tariffs through the lens of economic protectionism and hinted at returning to the economic policies of the 19th century by using them to replace the income tax.
Related: Bitcoin rally to $88.5K obliterates bears as spot volumes soar — Will a tariff war stop the party?
Trump proposes eliminating federal income tax and replacing it with tariff revenue
Trump proposed the idea of abolishing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and funding the federal government exclusively through trade tariffs while still on the campaign trail in October 2024.
According to accounting automation company Dancing Numbers, Trump’s plan could save each American taxpayer $134,809-$325,561 in taxes throughout their lives.
US President Donald Trump addresses the media about reciprocal trade tariffs at the April 2 press event. Source: Fox 4 Dallas
The higher range of the tax savings estimate will only occur if other wage-based taxes are eliminated at the state and municipal levels.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who assumed office in February, also voiced support for replacing the IRS with the “External Revenue Service.”
Lutnick said that the US government cannot balance a budget yet consistently demands more from its citizens every year. Tariffs will also protect American workers and strengthen the US economy, he said.
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