Ed Davey vs Layla Moran: the LBC debate with Iain Dale
Earlier today, Iain Dale hosted a head-to-head debate for LBC radio between party leadership candidates Ed Davey and Layla Moran, safely socially distanced but in the same studio.
I liked the way Iain pushes both candidates for Liberal Democrat leader over some of the standard answer cliches that often come up in leadership elections (and I’m sure anyone with a detailed memory of the last Lib Dem Party President election could point to some occasions where I used those cliches too!).That makes for a more interesting and revealing exchange than many, though on the subtext of the questions about trans rights, I’m very much with Ed and Layla:
Layla Moran and Sir Ed Davey stressed the Liberal Democrats position supporting trans people and trans rights.
Victoria phoned in from Inverness during Iain Dale’s Lib Dem leadership debate and asked Sir Ed Davey and Layla Moran to define a woman, which was in reference to the Liberal Democrats policy of trans rights.
“A woman is defined by the individual,” Sir Ed began.
“If a person believes they are a woman, a trans woman is a woman, that’s my view, it’s the party’s view and it’s the view of many other people.”
The current leader of the Liberal Democrats stressed that the party believes in equality “and when you have that as a core of your philosophy then you have to respect trans rights.”
Ms Moran added that “the liberal approach to this is that every individual has the right to decide who they are, it’s not up to society to do that, it’s for the individual to do that.”
The pair were in agreement on the party’s position on trans rights. [LBC]
You can watch the whole debate here:
Kudos to Iain Dale for his own recent frankness about his past experiences, a brave frankness that I am sure will help others to speak up and seek help in future:
Thank you to all the lovely people who have sent me lovely tweets about this. And to the very few who have been more negative, please learn what ‘consent’ means.
LBC host Iain Dale breaks long silence over attempted rape | Iain Dale | The Guardian https://t.co/XINfHGFOYQ
— Iain Dale (@IainDale) August 2, 2020
Listen to the Liberal Democrats and British politics being discussed by myself and a wide range of experts from inside and outside the party on my podcast, Never Mind The Bar Charts.
Ian Dale, excellent idea to get the candidates to ask each-other questions.! Ed asked Layla about funding the Universal Basic Income.. it appeared to me that he hoped it would expose a weakness but instead, it showed a strength, that she had really thought it through and its implications; and it also gave her the chance to show the weakness in his proposal, which she had clearly also researched and thought through.
There is something very special about Layla.
We decided last year that we didn’t want Ed, but now Jo has gone it does not make him the best choice.
Brilliant performance from Layla, the future of the party and the only candidate to improve its fortunes in the short and longer term.