Member of Parliament
Edward Davey was elected to the House of Commons at his first attempt at the 1997 General Election where he defeated the sitting Conservative MP for the former constituency of Surbiton Richard Tracey with a majority of just 56 votes and has remained the MP there since. He made his maiden speech on 6 June 1997, in which he gave his support for the setting up of the London Assembly, but against the idea of a directly elected Mayor of London, he also talked about the effects governmental cuts were having on the education delivery in the London Borough of Kingston upon Thames.
Davey was responsible for introducing the Liberal Democrat policy of penny on income tax to pay for education in 1997. He was one of the contributors to the Orange Book (2004).
He also introduced New Clause 1 - Repeal of prohibition on promotion of homosexuality, Local Government Bill 2003 (www.theyworkforyou.com). "…In a liberal democracy, the need to protect minorities properly sometimes means that protection cannot be achieved through the ballot box and that some things are not appropriate for a vote." (Mr. Davey, House of Commons Standing Committee A (pt 8), Column Number: 553 )
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