Editing David Laws (section)

===Government===
Following the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]], Laws was one of four negotiators for the Liberal Democrats who negotiated a deal to go into a governing coalition with the Conservatives.<ref>{{cite news |last=Haroon |first=Siddique |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/may/11/hung-parliament-negotiators-profiles |title=Profiles: The Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Labour negotiators |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=11 May 2010 | location=London}}</ref> His account of the coalition's formation was published in November 2010 as ''22 Days in May''.<ref>''22 Days in May: The Birth of the Lib Dem-Conservative Coalition'' (Biteback  2010) {{ISBN|978-1-84954-080-3}}</ref>

Laws was one of five Liberal Democrats to obtain Cabinet positions when the coalition was formed, becoming [[Chief Secretary to the Treasury]], tasked with cutting spending and increasing tax take without increasing rates of taxation to eliminate the national deficit.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8675705.stm Cameron's government: A guide to who's who] BBC News, 21 May 2010</ref> He was appointed as a [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Counsellor]] on 13 May 2010.<ref name="pc-13may2010">{{cite web|url=http://www.privy-council.org.uk/files/other/13th%20May2010%20List.doc |title=Privy Council appointments, 13 May 2010 |publisher=Privy Council |access-date=26 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611044054/http://www.privy-council.org.uk/files/other/13th%20May2010%20List.doc |archive-date=11 June 2011 |df=dmy }}</ref>

Laws's predecessor [[Liam Byrne]], wrote a note to his successor as Chief Secretary to the Treasury which read "Dear Chief Secretary, I'm afraid there is no money. Kind regards - and good luck! Liam". Byrne said the letter was meant as a private joke but Laws published it, slightly misquoting it (from memory) at a press briefing as "I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left".<ref name=desknote/> Looking back in 2013 he said that he had thought the note was a joke but that he felt it was in poor taste given the poor state of the economy. He had not expected the revelation of the contents of the note to be taken as significantly as it was.<ref name=desknote>{{cite news |url=http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/story/2013-06-24/exclusive-video-of-infamous-treasury-note/ |title='No money' note revealed |publisher=ITV Westcountry News |date=24 June 2013}}</ref>

Outlining spending cuts in May 2010, Laws said [[Child Trust Fund]] payments would be axed by January 2011. He said halting these payments to newborns from the end of the year – and the top-up payments – would save £520m. Mr Laws said: "The years of public sector plenty are over, but the more decisively we act the quicker and stronger we can come through these tough times." He said that "We also promise to cut with care, we are going to be a progressive government even in these tough times".<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8699522.stm George Osborne outlines detail of £6.2bn spending cuts], BBC News, 24 May 2010</ref> [[Iain Martin]] of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' published an article on Laws's early performance and described him as a "potential future [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|prime minister]]"<ref>{{cite news |last=Martin |first=Iain |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/iainmartin/2010/05/28/david-laws-how-high-can-the-rising-star-of-the-coalition-climb/ |title=David Laws: How High Can the Rising Star of the Coalition Climb? |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=28 May 2010}}</ref>