Liberal Democrats set to unveil new leader
Sir Ed Davey and Layla Moran. Davey and Moran are both vying to become the party's new leader after Jo Swinson dramatically lost her East Dunbartonshire seat in last December's election; PA Wire - Credit: PA
The Liberal Democrats will announce a new leader Thursday morning following several months of campaigning.
Sir Ed Davey and Layla Moran are both vying to become the party's new leader after Jo Swinson dramatically lost her East Dunbartonshire seat in last December's election.
Voting closed on Wednesday at 1pm and the winner of the contest is due to be announced at 11.30am on Thursday at a virtual event in central London.
You may also want to watch:
The next leader will be aiming to turn the party's fortunes around after the party won just 11 seats last year.
Most Read
- 1 Nigel Farage loses nearly 50,000 followers after Twitter suspends QAnon accounts
- 2 Michel Barnier tells UK to be 'very careful' in Brexit diplomatic status row
- 3 Fifteen ways to fix Britain
- 4 This chumocracy is costing our country
- 5 Holyrood in talks with EU to extend Erasmus scheme to Scottish students
- 6 Susanna Reid takes on Priti Patel over government's gaslighting of public on coronavirus
- 7 Independent SAGE adviser gives scathing assessment of Priti Patel's £800 Covid fines
- 8 Bob Geldof takes swipe at No 10 saying 'lying is second nature' to them
- 9 An actor whose politics were a touchy subject
- 10 Brexiteer says he'd never have voted for Brexit 'if we knew we'd lose our jobs'
Sir Ed, the MP for Kingston and Surbiton, is an experienced politician and former minister who first entered the Commons in 1997.
He was a business minister under former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg during the coalition years, and then moved to secretary of state for energy and climate change in 2012, promoting green energy policies.
He has temporarily co-led the party with Lib Dem peer Baroness Sal Brinton since Swinson stepped down in 2019.
Sir Ed said the leadership election had put both candidates through their paces.
He said: 'The next leader faces a huge job to rebuild the party, take on the Conservatives and get the party winning nationally again.
'This contest has put both candidates through our paces and made sure that the victor is battle-tested for this tough job ahead.'
Moran, the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, is battling Sir Ed for the top job in the two-horse race.
Having won her seat in 2017, Moran has fewer years' experience in the Commons in comparison to Sir Ed, but believes that she can bring a breath of fresh air to the party.
Before politics, she was a maths and physics teacher and is currently the Liberal Democrats' spokeswoman for education.
Moran has said she believes she can offer the party a new start after numerous disappointing election results between 2010 and 2015, and has ruled out joining another coalition with the Tories.
She has also suggested that she would be prepared to work with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on some issues.
Moran said: 'After a decade of decline, the Liberal Democrats are at a crossroads between revival or irrelevance.
'I'm urging members to seize this opportunity to renew the party, so we can transform the country. That starts by acknowledging our mistakes, listening to voters and showing them we are on their side.
'Our party has a chance to thrive, not just survive. Electing me as leader will send a clear signal that we are moving forward.'
Liberal Democrat members were able to vote for their preferred leader from when ballots went out on July 30 until Wednesday August 26.
Bath MP Wera Hobhouse announced she was entering the race in February, but has since withdrawn from the contest.
The end of today's contest will see the Liberal Democrats elect its fifth leader in five years.
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.