Oral Answers to Questions

Ed Davey Excerpts

Wednesday 28th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the leader of the Liberal Democrats.

[Ed Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s opening remarks, and join others in sending our best wishes to the Clerk of the House as he retires.

When I met the Prime Minister for social care cross-party talks in July, we talked about supporting family carers better, so I welcome the abolition of the cliff edge on carer’s allowance, which has caused so much misery, but the details are less welcome. It will not take effect for four years, and when it does, the Government will claw back £1 for every extra £1 a carer earns—a 100% tax rate for working carers. That cannot be right, so will he meet me to discuss our plans to fix carer’s allowance, which would make work pay for family carers?

[The Prime Minister]

I am prepared to meet the right hon. Gentleman, and I thank him for what he said. It is a start, but we are in a position where we are trying to build a cross-party consensus around better support for older people, a new social care system in which there is much stronger support for family carers, as he has so rightly argued.

[Ed Davey]

I am grateful to the Prime Minister for that reply. I hope the invitation will extend to the Conservatives, who want to join in real cross-party talks to solve this long-standing issue.

Turning to the economy, the Prime Minister is right to say that Britain’s best future lies back at the heart of Europe. He is also right to say that we need to build consensus within the British public to make that happen. But instead of making everyone wait for Labour’s next manifesto, will the Prime Minister start now to show the economic benefits of a closer trading relationship with Europe by joining a customs union, joining the single market, boosting growth and using the dividends of that growth to help with the cost of living by cutting people’s taxes?

[The Prime Minister]

As I have said today, we will not be doing those things in this Parliament, but let me come back to what I was saying to the right hon. Lady the Leader of the Opposition. We will take pragmatic steps where we can to support British business by improving the Brexit arrangements that we have got. I think it is extraordinary that the Conservative party, the Opposition, are unable to back us in getting in place those better arrangements that would make a real difference for people in their constituencies trying to export to the European Union. People will have heard that very clearly today. The Conservatives claim to be the party of business. They have turned their back on them today. This party never will.