Did last week mark a sea change in British politics? For many, it did. The government’s U-turn on winter fuel payments signalled a welcome retreat. But the deeper shift may lie in the terrain that ministers are now forced to fight on: cuts hitting disabled people and their families. In the Commons, Sir Ed Davey raised the case of Ginny, a carer for her husband with myotonic dystrophy. He described the human burden of responsibility, exhaustion and love. Under the government’s planned cuts, he warned, her family stands to lose £12,000 a year. The prime minister replied with managerial platitudes. Sir Ed, by contrast, spoke of duty, dignity and the very real consequences of policy.
The Liberal Democrat leader isn’t trading in ideology; he’s drawing a line based on human decency. Caring has been a constant theme of his life, even more than politics. When he was a teenager, Sir Ed spent three years looking after his mother who died of bone cancer. Later he helped care for the grandmother who brought him up. Every morning at 6am, Sir Ed wakes up his severely disabled 17-year-old son, John, then cleans his teeth, bathes him and gives him his morning massage. In his new book, Why I Care, he frames this both an act of love and a foundational political insight.
