David Davies

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This page is about David Davies, MP for Monmouth. See also David Davis, MP for Haltemprice & Howden.

David Davies is the Conservative MP for Monmouth.

Contents

Abortion

In May 2008 in the abortion amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (now Act), David Davies voted for the abortion time limit to be lowered to 12 weeks against scientific and medical consensus which is currently 24 weeks[1]. After four separate parliamentary votes on varying time limits, the majority of MPs voted to keep the abortion time limit at 24 weeks, in keeping with scientific and medical consensus, hence no abortion amendments were added to the bill.

Climate Change

In 2006, MPs were asked three questions by the Rough Guide's Mark Ellingham on how seriously they took climate change as politicians and as responsible, active citizens. David Davies replied:

"1: There is no doubt that Climate Change is one of the most important international issues we face, both on a micro and a macro level.
2: Britain can and must be a world leader in Climate Change Policy. To do this we must ensure that our own policies are robust, long-reaching and coherent. It is sad to see that Carbon Emissions have risen over the past 10 years and if we are to act with any moral authority on the international stage we must fight to ensure that Britain's carbon emissions are significantly lowered through the passing of a Climate Change Bill, which I have advocated. We must also look hard at our energy supplies and our abilities to provide carbon neutral energy.
Increasing the information available to the public on this issue, including facts about microgeneration, recycling, the cutting down of energy usage, will be a vital step in the right direction."[2]

Religion

Cornerstone Group

David Davies is a member of the Cornerstone Group, a group within the Conservative Party that describes itself as believing in "the spiritual values which have informed British institutions, our culture and our nation's sense of identity for centuries, underpinned by the belief in a strong nation state."[3]. Their website includes articles on Conservative and Christian political issues.

In June 2007, Davies wrote an article for the Group's blog titled "Enforce the law against female circumcision"[4]. In it he stated that "it is believed that thousands of young girls living in Britain are victims of this abhorrent practice", and that the current "commitment to supporting diversity means turning a blind eye to forced marriages, not doing enough to prevent honour killings, ignoring female genital mutilation".

Faith based Adoption Agencies

In 2007, David Davies signed Early Day Motion 742 calling on the government to exclude "faith based" adoption agencies from the Equality Act to avoid such agencies being forced to consider gay couples.[5]

Blasphemy Law

On 6th May 2008, David Davies voted against a Lords amendment to abolish the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel[6]. The amendment was nonetheless passed by a vote of 378 to 57.

Libel Law Reform

In January 2010, David Davies signed Early Day Motion 423 calling for a reform of the English libel law[7]. The motion noted that human rights activists, scientists, writers and journalists are currently prevented from publishing, and the public prevented from reading, matters of strong public interest due to the chilling effect of the law.

Same-sex Marriage

Statement from May 2012, "I will not be supporting the proposals in their current form": http://www.david-daviesmp.co.uk/news/my-position-gay-marriage-i-will-not-be-supporting-proposals-their-current-form

Interview with BBC Radio Wales

In December 2012, shortly after David Cameron announced that same-sex marriages would be allowed in religious buildings, where religious groups wanted it (though excluding the Church of England), Mr Davies was reported to have said:

"If there are any sort of areas where there isn't full equality with married couples then I'd be more than happy to support making changes to civic ceremonies, so I really don't know why we need to go ahead with this at all.
"I think most people are very tolerant and have no problem at all if people are gay but, and I hate to say this in a way because I expect it's going to cause controversy, but I think most parents would prefer their children not to be gay, knowing most parents want grandchildren if nothing else."[8]

He also noted that such a change might affect education and indicated that he thought the idea was not politically wise:

"It changes the way that sex education is going to be taught in schools.
"It's going to have an impact on teachers and I think it goes against what a lot of people feel very strongly about, particularly within the Conservative Party.
"...
"What is going to happen is that we're going to lose a large number of very loyal activists who've gone out and campaigned for us over the years and who don't like this idea, so politically it's barking mad."[8]

Interview with The Guardian

In a later December 2012 interview Mr Davies seemed not to have thought about the issue in any depth:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/dec/21/david-davies-gay-marriage-interview

References

  1. ↑ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmsctech/1045/104502.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/climate-change-what-mps-think--a-to-c-424376.html
  3. ↑ http://cornerstonegroup.wordpress.com/about/
  4. ↑ http://cornerstonegroup.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/thought-for-the-day-june-22-enforce-the-law-against-female-circumcision-by-david-davies-mp/
  5. ↑ http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2006-07/742
  6. ↑ http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2008-05-06&number=170&display=allvotes
  7. ↑ http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2009-10/423
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-20657595

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