Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey leaves door open to coalition with Andy Burnham: 'Good hypothetical question!'

Sir Ed Davey has refused to rule out entering a coalition with a future Labour government led by Andy Burnham.

Speaking to GB News, the Liberal Democrat leader insisted his focus is on winning seats but stopping short of rejecting a potential deal.

Sir Ed was quizzed on a future alliance if a General Election was called in the wake of Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation and the expected coronation of the former Manchester Mayor as Prime Minister.

Host Alex Armstrong asked: “Would you ever consider a cosy coalition, perhaps with the Labour Party, if they need your help?”

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“That's a good hypothetical question. I'll give you some credit for that, Alex,” the Lib Dem leader responded.

“But, you know, the truth is, my job as leader of the Liberal Democrats is to put forward our ideas to get as many seats as we possibly can.

“Last election, if I'd come on your programme and said a few weeks before polling day, we'd get 72 Liberal Democrat MPs, our best result for over 100 years, I think you'd have had a bit of a laugh at me.

“But we did do that, didn't we? And we've had eight years of net gains in local elections. We could soon be the second party in local government.

“I'm preparing for the next election to win for the Liberal Democrats and our values.

“We want to fix our broken political system in this merry-go-round of prime ministers.

“We've got ideas of real change. Real change with practical plans. And the more people hear about those, I think, the more people will switch to us.”

Despite Sir Ed’s predictions for electoral success, he did not definitively rule out joining forces with Mr Burnham in Government.

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However, such a hypothetical alliance may be some time off in the Lib Dem leader’s plans, as he did not call for an immediate General Election.

Following Sir Keir’s resignation, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and others called for a new vote to be held.

When that proposition was put to him, Sir Ed was similarly vague.

“We want to see change. I think Andy Burnham’s got a very small window to deliver on that change.

“I think the calls for a general election will increase,” he said.

However, it appeared the Lib Dem leader would prefer to see Mr Burnham attempt to effect such changes before turning to the public to seek a mandate.

“The key thing, if you talk to people, I've been listening to people on programmes like yours, and they just want change.

“They want the government to get on with it. So much is broken in our country.

“We desperately need the Defence Investment Plan to be published ahead of the Nato summit coming up in a week or two's time. We need to engage with our European colleagues,” Sir Ed stressed.

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