Edward Davey

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Edward Davey is the Liberal Democrat MP for Kingston and Surbiton. He entered Parliament at the 1997 general election.

In February 2012 he was made Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in the coalition government.

Contents

Abortion

In May 2008 in the abortion amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (now Act), Edward Davey voted to keep the current time limit of 24 weeks in line with the scientific and medical consensus[1].

MMR Vaccine

Edward Davey signed the February 2009 Early Day Motion 754: MMR Vaccine and the Media supporting the use of the MMR vaccine. The motion expressed disappointment with the reporting of the vaccine by Jeni Barnett on her LBC radio show in January 2009, and expressed the hope that future reporting of the issue of MMR would be less sensationalist and more evidence-based.[2]

Homeopathy

In 2003 Mr Davey signed EDM 643: Society of Homeopaths, which congratulated the Society of Homeopaths on its 25th anniversary and recognised "the crucial role professional homeopaths can play in reducing the burden on GPs at primary care level"[3].

Mr Davey signed the March 2007 Early Day Motion 1240 calling for the positive recognition of NHS homeopathic hospitals[4].

In March 2010, following the publication of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee's report "Evidence Check 2: Homeopathy", Davey signed Early Day Motion 908: Science and Technology Committee Report on Homeopathy, which was critical of the report[5].

It is known that Mr Davey has had meetings with local homeopaths[6] - that is good, as they are his constituents, however it may be that they are providing him with misleading information.

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. Edward Davey replied:

"Climate change is the most important issue facing us today ­ and has been for some time. The consequences if we do not tackle this urgently and fully are potentially catastrophic for the whole human race and life on the earth. The problem to date has been persuading enough people to recognise the threat, and despite Al Gore et al., I remain alarmed at how few people still really understand the scale of the problem and how fast we need to move."[7]

In January 2010, Edward Davey signed Early Day Motion 524: Recognising Climate Change which states that "this House agrees that climate change is happening and is man-made" and calls this statement a "fact, which has the support of the overwhelming majority of the scientific community"[8].

Charles Darwin

Edward Davey was one of 79 MPs who signed Early Day Motion 377 noting the achievements of Charles Darwin, and calling for Darwin's birthday to be designated a public holiday to honour "one of the fathers of modern science and one of Britain's greatest, if not the greatest, scientific minds."

Libel Law Reform

In January 2010, Edward Davey signed Early Day Motion 423 calling for a reform of the English libel law[9]. 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.

Writing in response to an e-mail from skeptic Rebecca Watson[10], Davey wrote:

"It is absolutely outrageous that we are now in a position where doctors who criticise heart implants and journalists who expose corruption are brought before the courts instead of being applauded!"

References

  1. ↑ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmsctech/1045/104502.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2008-09/754
  3. ↑ http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2002-03/643
  4. ↑ http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2006-07/1240
  5. ↑ http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2009-10/908
  6. ↑ http://kenthomeopathic.com/homeonet/index.php?topic=1444.0#msg3918
  7. ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/climate-change-what-mps-think--a-to-c-424376.html
  8. ↑ http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2009-10/524
  9. ↑ http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2009-10/423
  10. ↑ http://skepchick.org/blog/2010/01/libel-reform-which-mps-are-doing-their-jobs/

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