Editing David Laws (section)

==Political views==
In initial debates on the spending cuts, Conservative MP for [[Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency)|Gainsborough]], [[Edward Leigh]] described Laws as heeding to "stern, unbending [[Gladstonian Liberalism]]". Laws added that he believed in "not only Gladstonian Liberalism, but liberalism tinged with the [[social liberalism]] about which my party is so passionate."<ref>[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm100526/debtext/100526-0001.htm#10052612000637 Hansard – Government Spending Cuts ] UK Parliament – 26 May 2010</ref>

Around the time of the 2010 general election, it was alleged that Laws told a Conservative colleague that he would have become a Conservative politician had it not been for the Tory party's general "illiberalism and Euroscepticism" and particularly the [[Premiership of Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher government]]'s introduction of [[Section 28]], which forbade local authorities from "promot[ing] homosexuality".<ref name=GuarProf/> According to former MP [[Evan Harris]], one of Laws's former colleagues, "Laws is a fully social liberal on equality, abortion, faith schools, religion and the state. He is also very sensible on discrimination issues and sex education";<ref name=GuarProf/> another, [[Malcolm Bruce]] described Laws as "an unreconstructed 19th-century Liberal. He believes in free trade and small government. Government should do the job only government can do. There's no point in having [a] large public sector if the users of the public services are getting poorer."<ref name=GuarProf/>