Ed Davey.

Assisted dying defines Ed Davey's most striking recent parliamentary behaviour. The Liberal Democrat leader voted against his own party five times on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill — opposing its Second Reading in November 2024, then backing tighter restrictions and devolution protections during the Bill's Report Stage in May and June 2025. He sits at the opposite pole from most Lib Dems on this issue: the party voted 72% in favour of assisted dying access, while Davey backed none of those positions and supported every restrictive amendment put to a vote. Beyond Parliament, he called publicly for a ban on Kanye West over antisemitism concerns and pressed the Prime Minister at PMQs to release flight logs linked to the Epstein trafficking investigation — both moves consistent with a leader who courts media attention on ethical flashpoints.

His parliamentary participation rate of 46% is below the Commons average, though party leaders routinely miss divisions due to other demands. Where he does vote, he backs his party on 98% of occasions, aside from the assisted dying exception. His speeches — 204 contributions across 99 debates — skew heavily toward the economy, defence, health, cost of living, and social care. The social care focus is directly informed by personal experience: his book "Why I Care" draws on his own history as a carer. He holds no current select committee role.

His recent key votes show a broadly centrist liberal pattern: supporting climate legislation, Lords amendments, civil liberties protections, and parliamentary scrutiny, while opposing rail renationalisation on competition grounds and a 50% steel tariff he argued would harm downstream manufacturers. News coverage over the past 90 days centres heavily on his performance as party leader and on constitutional and democracy issues. Voting data is available from 2024 onwards; earlier records in this parliamentary term are limited.