Ed Davey launches Lib Dem campaign for Newcastle City Council local elections

Ed Davey launched the Lib Dem campaign for Newcastle City Council local elections on May 7th during a visit to campaigners in High Heaton and Ouseburn.

He joined residents of the Spinney in High Heaton to help with planting at the community garden, before speaking to members and activists at a rally at City Stadium in Ouseburn. Whilst there, he recorded an important message to the country warning that:

"Keir Starmer faces a serious choice over Donald Trump's shocking threats to bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran which amount to war crimes. If US planes launch those attacks from British bases, the UK risks being complicit. He called on the Prime Minister to act immediately to withdraw US access to UK air bases and make it crystal clear that British soil will never be used for illegal military action. We cannot simply stand by in silence. We must stand up for the rule of law, for British values, and for peace."

Ed's speech to members and candidates stressed that the cost of living will rise as a result of Donald Trump's disastrous illegal war, which Reform and the Conservatives want the UK to join.

He highlighted the Lib Dems' opposition to the Iraq war and our consistency in opposing Trump over war in Iran, before setting out how the Lib Dems are calling for the £8billion the Government is generating from fuel duty on higher oil prices to be used for a package of measures to reduce transport costs to help struggling households and businesses and boost the economy.

He made it clear that the Lib Dem local election campaign here and nationally would stress that Lib Dem councillors are effective and respected local champions for their communities.  As Labour's vote continues to collapse, the choice facing voters is between Lib Dem local champions and our commitment to international values, the rule of law, and the national interests, the nasty, divisive, Trumpian extremism of Reform, and a Green Party that poses as cuddly but supports policies that will really damage our country.

Standing alongside Newcastle Lib Dem leader Cllr Colin Ferguson, he urged Newcastle voters to back the “value based politics that we’ve held for years and years and our record of working hard for communities for years and years and what we’ve achieved in Newcastle, and across the North East.”

Take a look at Ed's speech at the City Stadium rally on our Facebook page or read the transcript below:

"The cost of living has gone up thanks to this Illegal disastrous war from Donald Trump. Two parties in British politics wanted Britain to join it – Reform and the Conservatives Which party has been the most strong in opposing Donald Trump and saying it is a disaster?  It's the Liberal Democrats.

Remember – we opposed the Iraq war because it was illegal and we continue in our profoundly held values twenty years later in opposing this Iran war.

I think that’s a good message for the doorsteps not least because this links to the policy we announced last week, when we said the Treasury’s taken 10p £8 billion extra this year because of the increase in the oil price, and should give some of that back to people, to businesses, so we’ve called for a raft of transport policies so fuel bills, fuel taxes should go down by 10p, that’s 12p saving at the pumps, we’ve called for the capping of bus fares to go down from £3 to £1, rail fares to be cut by 10%. That is all affordable, just from the extra money that the Treasury is getting, that would help people who are struggling and would help our economy.

That’s a strong message for the doorsteps.  Link that national policy from opposition to the war in Iran and  a positive way of helping people in your leaflets and your conversations on the doorsteps. You’ve shown here in Newcastle year in year out that if people elect a Lib Dem councillor they get a champion who works for their community.  Before I came here to Ouseburn, I was with Doreen [Huddart] at a place called the Spinney in her ward, at a community garden they’d created by rallying the local residents, the library, the school, to create a space to commemorate a mining disaster 200 years ago. Doreen and her colleagues have been local champions for their community showing the simple things that they can do  working with residents, but Doreen and her colleagues have a lot to be proud of. I see that across the country, where local Liberal Democrat elected representatives , they are the local champions.

So by translating those two things,  great national values and those local champions you have a powerful story to tell for these local elections. These local elections are going to be tough all across the country for all parties because you’ve got a tough complicated situation. We see Labour’s vote collapsing, and I get the impression it’s collapsing across Newcastle, the Tories not doing well, but these extremists from either side, the nasty divisive populist policies of Donald Trump, and the Greens who people think are cuddly, want to take us out of NATO and do things which could really damage our country and yet people are listening to them.

We have to come through strongly  with our value based politics that we’ve held for years and years and our record of working hard for communities for years and years and what we’ve achieved in Newcastle, and in Gateshead, and in Northumberland and across the North East.

So I want to thank you all for what you’ve done, but I want to encourage you to get cracking over the next few weeks as there’s so much at stake, We’ve seen what happens when Reform do when they take control of a council, as Amanda [Hopgood] found in Durham,  who’s seen how awfully they behave, increased council tax on the poorest in our community, how they’ve cut services, increased debt and how damaging that can be. So we have to be the antidote to Reform, and I think it’s quite clear across the country that the only party who can beat Reform in council by-elections has been the Liberal Democrats and I think that’s because of our local champions, our traditions, and our policies. Yes there’ll be a threat from the Greens in some wards, but I think if we push hard we push back too.

Thank you for what you do. I hope you’re as excited as I am that we’re going to surprise people in May by how well we do here in the North East and across the country.”