Sir Ed Davey won the race to become the new leader of the Liberal Democrats on Thursday. However, his tenure as leader has already suffered a rough start after BBC Breakfast viewers ruthlessly mocked the new party leader during his appearance this morning. Sir Ed faces a tough challenge in rebuilding electoral support, with the party only achieving single digit support in the the latest opinion polls.
The Liberal Democrats have just 11 MPs, and recent opinion polls have put them on between 5 and 10 percent of the vote.
Viewers mocked Sir Ed's repeated claim on the BBC that the Liberal Democrats would now "listen" to the British people.
The BBC's Naga Munchetty asked the new leader about his time in the coalition: "You have said you will listen. I am going to ask you then, as you are listening, and we all learn through experience, do you regret your voting choices in the coalition?"
He replied: "Not everything was got right. However we did do a huge amount. We stopped the Tories cutting welfare benefits by another £12million. We introduced free school meals. We took millions of low paid out of tax."
However Sir Ed added: “We’ve not been seen, by the British people, as on their side. I am determined that by the next election, the people know that we are their voice. We are standing up for ordinary people."
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Naga Munchetty said: "You've said you will be listening. As you are listening, do you regret voting choices you made in coalition with the Conservatives?"
He responded: "We were in a coalition with the Conservatives, which was very difficult. I agree with that.
"We had very difficult decisions and not everything we did was right.
"We stopped the Tories cutting welfare benefits by £12bn and we introduced free school meals.
"This current government has made so many mistakes. Our economy has shrunk faster with more job losses than any other G7 country."
In an email to party members on Thursday, Sir Ed claimed he would launch a "national listening project" to help make the Lib Dems "relevant again".
One viewer remarked: "Ed Davey saying he is going to listen to the British people and then never stops talking."
Another added: "Unable to answer simple questions just waffle, waffle, waffle."
One person simply asked: "Is this man serious?"
The result comes eight months after the Lib Dems' former leader, Jo Swinson, stepped down from the role after losing her seat in 2019 election.
Sir Ed secured 63.5 percent of the vote, compared to 36.5 percent for his competitor, fellow MP Layla Moran.
Polling guru professor John Curtice recently said that the Liberal Democrats' popularity "remains at rock bottom".
Leading MEP Guy Guy Verhofstadt tweeted his congratulations to Sir Ed, saying: "The radicalised Tory party of 2020 chooses isolationism & anti-European dogma over cooperation.
"As an internationalist with conviction, I know you & your party have the chance to change this!"
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMif2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmV4cHJlc3MuY28udWsvc2hvd2Jpei90di1yYWRpby8xMzI4NDYzL0JCQy1CcmVha2Zhc3QtTGliZXJhbC1EZW1vY3JhdHMtRWQtRGF2ZXktYmFja2xhc2gtTmFnYS1NdW5jaGV0dHktbGF0ZXN0LW5ld3PSAYMBaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZXhwcmVzcy5jby51ay9zaG93Yml6L3R2LXJhZGlvLzEzMjg0NjMvQkJDLUJyZWFrZmFzdC1MaWJlcmFsLURlbW9jcmF0cy1FZC1EYXZleS1iYWNrbGFzaC1OYWdhLU11bmNoZXR0eS1sYXRlc3QtbmV3cy9hbXA?oc=5
2020-08-28 09:57:00Z
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