Sign Our Open Letter To Ed Davey

Open Letter to Ed Davey about Mansion Tax U-Turn

Sir Ed,

We write as members of the Liberal Democrats, as volunteers, campaigners, and elected representatives, who are deeply concerned and dismayed by your recent conduct.

Liberal Democrat party policy, as proposed by Sir Vince Cable in 2009, as adopted by party members at conference in 2012, and as supported by yourself in a general election campaign, originally called for the introduction of a Mansion Tax on high value properties, and was subsequently changed to supporting the creation of new council tax bands for the highest value properties. A form of a Mansion Tax has therefore been party policy for over a decade.

A version of this policy has now been adopted by Labour in the recent budget, albeit one with a council tax surcharge rather than new bands.

Liberal Democrats originally adopted this policy because it is right that those with the most wealth should be asked to contribute a little more to fund public services rather than greater burdens being placed on ordinary people who could only dream of having that much wealth. This is a position rooted in our party’s fundamental values of fairness and equality.

Despite this, you have chosen to unilaterally change party policy on this issue in post-budget media rounds by opposing the new Mansion Tax as being “unfair” and placing the Liberal Democrats in direct opposition to it.

That you have some discomfort with this policy might be understandable given that your own, highly wealthy, constituency will be particularly impacted by it; although only a small minority of households in your constituency will have to pay it.

However, any personal discomfort you may feel in relation to the impact of this policy on a small number of Liberal Democrat constituencies, including your own, should come secondary to your primary duty as party leader to promote and advocate for adopted party policy. Where you disagree with policy it is your right to propose new policy, and to ask for the party to support your preferred policy, but it is a direct abrogation of your responsibility as party leader to flout and contradict party policy on the hoof.

Given that the Liberal Democrats are an opposition party, no one would have expected you to outright support the government’s Mansion Tax policy. It would have been perfectly possible for you to withhold support for this specific implementation of a Mansion Tax while still promoting and advocating party policy.

However, you did not choose to take those options, instead you chose to publicly u-turn on party policy in media interviews. Not only was this embarrassing for the party, attracting obvious criticism for being a complete u-turn on a long-established party policy, it has also been deeply damaging to the reputation and credibility of the party.

Instead of siding with those who are struggling as a result of the budget, ranging from workers impacted by the income tax threshold freeze, to graduates impacted by a £400 million tax raid on their incomes through an eyewatering interest rate on student loan repayments, you chose to position the party, and yourself as party leader, as being on the side of those with properties worth more than £2 million, and who are being asked to contribute a far smaller proportion of their wealth under this Labour budget than a typical graduate in a rented property.

This has been compounded by your decision to use Conservative-style rhetoric in response to the budget, promoting slogans such as "you can't tax your way to growth", which stands in stark contrast to party values and to the values of the people our party was founded to stand up for.

The Liberal Democrats are a party founded on a belief in fairness, upon a belief in equality, liberty and community, and in ensuring that no one is enslaved by poverty. By choosing to publicly defend some of the wealthiest in society from a small increase in tax, in a way which you have failed to defend far more disadvantaged groups, you have not only failed in your duties as our elected party leader, you have betrayed our party’s values and seriously harmed our standing with the general public.

At a time when the far-right politics of hate is on the march, and when this Labour government has betrayed its values and the hopes of the nation by meekly surrendering to it, we desperately need a strong, progressive and liberal voice in politics, one which offers real solutions to fundamental problems rather than scapegoats.

To side with the wealthy purely for the sake of expediency was not the action of a serious political leader who has the courage or conviction necessary to offer a genuinely fairer and brighter future for our country and our society. We expect better from you as our leader, and we believe we are not unreasonable to do so.

We, the undersigned, hope you will reflect seriously on this criticism, and on our concerns, and take immediate action to redress the shortcomings of your recent leadership and your disrespect for party policy, process and values.

You hold, in your hands, the sacred trust of our members, our supporters, and of the centuries old liberal movement that has fought for liberty and equality in every era. We ask you to honour this trust, to advocate for liberal values and beliefs and policies, to respect the democratic processes of our party, and to be the statesman our nation needs in this hour of dire need. Please do not let us down like this again.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Blackburn (Former Parliamentary Candidate)
James Blessing
Andy Chandler
Dale Cox
Jack Fleming
William Francis (London Young Liberals Vice-Chair)
Fraser Graham (Prospective Scottish Parliamentary Candidate for Kirkcaldy)
Paul Hindley
Andy Hinton
Martin Howes
Bryn Jenkins
Abrial Jerram
Alex Juras
Artie Khovanov
Rob Kinnon-Brettle (Election Agent)
David Le Grice
Francesco Lobina
Philip Matthew
Ryan Mercer (Former Parliamentary Candidate)
Nick Perry (Former Parliamentary Candidate)
Larry Ngan
George Potter (Councillor)
Aidan Reilly
Shyamali Rodrigues
Damian Ronksley
Rosemary Runswick
Gianni Sarra
Andrew Smith
Joe Toovey
Brian Wernham (Councillor)