Sir Ed Davey challenges Lib Dems to ‘tear down’ Tory ‘blue wall’ to help oust PM
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has challenged his party to “tear down” the Conservatives’ “blue wall” in order to help oust Boris Johnson from Downing Street.
In his keynote address at the Liberal Democrat conference on Sunday, Sir Ed said the Tories would only lose power at the next election if his party took seats off them.
“Make no mistake: the electoral arithmetic is clear,” he said. “These Conservatives can’t be defeated next time unless we Liberal Democrats win Tory seats.”
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Chesham and Amersham: Tories lose seat for first time in 47 years
Sir Ed pointed to his party’s recent victory at June’s by-election in Chesham and Amersham – when they took the constituency from the Conservatives – as showing how “even in deepest, bluest Buckinghamshire the Tories can be beaten”.
“In Chesham and Amersham, we knocked out one blue brick; now it’s up to us to tear it down,” he added.
In a series of attacks on Mr Johnson and his government, Sir Ed claimed that many in traditionally Conservative-supporting areas “just don’t feel that Boris Johnson represents them, or shares their values”.
“They’re not convinced the prime minister is competent – or worse still, decent,” he added.
And he said people who had voted Tory all their lives “now feel completely let down” and “betrayed”.
The Lib Dem leader launched a series of attacks on Boris Johnson and his government
Sir Ed said part of the reason for Lib Dem success in Chesham and Amersham was a “groundswell of frustration and discontent from people who feel ignored and taken for granted by this Conservative government”.
He appeared in front of around 150 people in London’s Canary Wharf in his first leader’s speech in front of a live audience, although most of the Lib Dem conference has been held online.
Sir Ed attacked the Tories’ cuts to Universal Credit, the reduction in the UK’s foreign aid budget, Conservative immigration policies and the government’s handling of the Afghanistan crisis.
And he also took aim at new Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, whose Esher and Walton constituency is one of the Lib Dems’ key targets ahead of the next election.
Sir Ed joked that the former foreign secretary – who was widely criticised for being in Greece as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban – only accepted his three new jobs at last week’s cabinet reshuffle “on the basis that three jobs would come with three times the holiday entitlement”.
The Lib Dem leader accused Mr Johnson of “steering us all into another terrible crisis” – after Brexit and COVID-19 – as UK businesses suffer supply issues and labour shortages.
He claimed ministers had “ignored all the warnings” about the government’s Brexit deal and new immigration rules.
And Sir Ed quipped: “To be fair, this is one time Boris Johnson has actually delivered; he said he wanted to ‘f*** business’, and he has well and truly f***** them.”
He called on his party to think back to 1992, when the Tories last won a fourth term in office, to remember how then Lib Dem leader, the late Paddy Ashdown, called for the party to “be the catalyst, the gathering point for a broader movement dedicated to winning the battle of ideas which will give Britain an electable alternative to Conservative government”.
Lib Dems were urged to heed the past call of their former leader Paddy Ashdown
“That was the role of the Liberal Democrats then and it is the role of the Liberal Democrats today,” Sir Ed said.
“Boris Johnson is not a prime Minister worthy of our great United Kingdom. His Conservatives are not a government worthy of the British people.
“This prime minister and these Conservatives have got to go.”
Although the Lib Dems and Labour discussed a coalition of their parties prior to the 1997 general election, Sir Ed has recently said he is “very sceptical” of a possible deal between current opposition parties.
Outlining his “fair deal” offer to British voters ahead of the next election in his speech, Sir Ed outlined commitments on climate change – such as banning new oil, gas and coal companies from the London Stock Exchange – as well as plans to replace business rates with a land tax and a proposal to allow unpaid carers and those they care for to have their own care budget.
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In the major policy announcement of his speech, Sir Ed called for the government to match what their own education adviser, Sir Kevan Collins, urged ministers to do and put at least £15bn into a post-pandemic catch-up fund for pupils.
He said schools should be able to spend the cash “as they see best”, while the Lib Dems have proposed that £5bn of the money over a three-year programme should be handed to parents in the form of catch-up vouchers.
“Parents could choose to spend it with their child’s own school – on an after-school homework club, on one-to-one tuition, on special extra-curricular activities from sports to music lessons, provided for that child by their school,” he said.
“Or parents could choose to spend it on tuition they organise. Or with a music teacher they find. Or on therapy and counselling.
“As long as it was supporting the education and well-being of their child, it would be the parents’ choice.”
Two senior Labour MPs have suggested the prime minister may have to go within months if the government continues to perform poorly.
Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates said his sources – a member of the government and a prominent politician – have “put Sir Keir Starmer on notice”.
Both warned that, if Labour performs badly in next May’s elections across Wales, Scotland and London, it could mark the end of his time in Downing Street.
Coates added: “The level of unhappiness and despair in parts of the Labour Party is so striking that right now, on the first anniversary, I am hearing from ministers in government that Starmer might have to go in months.”
Reform UK is surging in the polls in Wales, while Labour faces a threat from left-wing parties such as the Greens in London.
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Why was the chancellor crying at PMQs?
It comes as the prime minister made it clear that Rachel Reeves has his “complete support” as chancellor and remains integral to his project, Sky News’s political editor Beth Rigby understands.
She looked visibly upset during Prime Minister’s Questions, with a spokesperson claiming she had been affected by a “personal matter”.
A day earlier, Sir Keir’s controversial welfare bill was passed despite a sizeable rebellion from Labour MPs, with major U-turns meaning a new £5bn black hole has appeared in the country’s finances.
One senior figure told Rigby that the pair were as “as close politically” as any chancellor and prime minister have ever been.
“She is going absolutely nowhere,” they added.
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Welfare vote ‘a blow to the prime minister’
Ms Reeves’s tears sent markets spiralling, with the value of the pound and long-term government bonds falling sharply.
Later in the day Sir Keir, said Ms Reeves will be chancellor for a “very long time to come”.
The prime minister said it was “absolutely wrong” to suggest her tearful appearance in the Commons related to the welfare U-turn.
“It’s got nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with what’s happened this week. It was a personal matter for her,” he said while speaking to the BBC’s podcast Political Thinking with Nick Robinson.
“I’m not going to intrude on her privacy by talking to you about that. It is a personal matter.”
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Asked if she will remain in post, he said: “She will be chancellor by the time this is broadcast, she will be chancellor for a very long time to come, because this project that we’ve been working on to change the Labour party, to win the election, change the country, that is a project which the chancellor and I’ve been working on together.”
He said Ms Reeves has done a “fantastic job” and added: “She and I work together, we think together. In the past, there have been examples – I won’t give any specific – of chancellors and prime ministers who weren’t in lockstep. We’re in lockstep.”
Sir Keir Starmer will set out his 10-year vision for the NHS in what the government says is “one of the most seismic shifts” in the health service’s history.
He will pledge three main facets of the plan: moving care into the community, digitising the NHS, and a focus on sickness prevention.
The prime minister will announce neighbourhood health services will be rolled out across England to improve access to the NHS and to shift care out of overstrained hospitals.
PM ‘might have to go in months’ – politics latest
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What will the NHS 10-year health plan focus on?
Sir Keir has already promised thousands more GPs will be trained, and to end the 8am “scramble” for an appointment.
He also previously said his government will bring the NHS into the digital age, with “groundbreaking” new tools to support GPs rolled out over the next two years – including AI to take notes, draft letters and enter data.
And he will promise new contracts that will encourage and allow GP practices to cover a wider geographical area, so small practices will get more support.
Unite, one of the UK’s largest healthcare unions, welcomed the plan cautiously but said staff need to be the focus to ensure people are better looked after.
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‘Reform or die’
Sir Keir said: “The NHS should be there for everyone, whenever they need it.
“But we inherited a health system in crisis, addicted to a sticking plaster approach, and unable to face up to the challenges we face now, let alone in the future.
“That ends now. Because it’s reform or die.”
He said the government’s plan “will fundamentally rewire and futureproof our NHS, so that it puts care on people’s doorsteps, harnesses game-changing tech and prevents illness in the first place”.
The PM said it would not be an “overnight fix”, but claimed Labour are “already turning the tide on years of decline”, pointing towards more than four million extra appointments, 1,900 more GPs, and waiting lists at a two-year low.
“But there’s more to come,” he promised. “This government is giving patients easier, quicker and more convenient care, wherever they live.”
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Why has Starmer axed NHS England?
Neighbourhood health services
The newly announced neighbourhood health services will provide “pioneering teams” in local communities, so patients can more conveniently access a full range of healthcare services close to home.
Local areas will be encouraged to trial innovative schemes like community outreach door-to-door to detect early signs of illness and reduce pressure on GPs and A&E.
The aim is to eventually have new health centres open 12 hours a day, six days a week to offer GP services as well as diagnostics, post-operative care and rehab.
They will also offer services like debt advice, employment support, stop smoking help or weight management.
More NHS dentists
Dentists will also be part of the plan, with dental care professionals part of the neighbourhood teams.
Dental “therapists” will carry out check-ups, treatments and referrals, while dental nurses could give education and advice to parents or work with schools and community groups.
Newly qualified dentists will be required to practice in the NHS for a minimum period, which they have said will be three years.
Despite making “significant improvements”, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has lost the “trust and confidence” of some victims of grooming gangs, according to a report by the police watchdog.
Michelle Skeer, His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, said that since 2019, when GMP started to review its non-recent child sexual exploitation investigations, “the force has improved its understanding and approach to investigating allegations of child criminal and sexual exploitation”.
The document, published today, said police have live investigations into “multi-victim, multi-offender” child sexual exploitation inquiries, involving 714 victims and survivors, and 1,099 suspects.
Grooming gangs scandal timeline
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‘Our chance for justice’
But despite recording improvements, a report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) also identified:
• Various training gaps within the investigation team
• Lack of consistency in evaluating case files between social care, health and police
• Failures to initially support victims meant they had “lost trust and confidence” in police
The report was commissioned by the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham in 2024 to evaluate whether police, councils and health services can protect children from sexual exploitation in the future.
Its release comes days after Sir Keir Starmer announced he was launching a new national inquiry into grooming gangs after previously arguing one was not necessary,
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Starmer to launch new grooming gang inquiry
The findings were issued as the final part of the CSE (child sexual exploitation) Assurance Review process which started in 2017. The first three reports examined non-recent child sexual exploitation in Manchester, Oldham and Rochdale.
Mr Skeer said that the force has been trying to improve its service to those who have experienced sexual exploitation, but previous failings have badly affected trust in GMP.
He said: “For some, trust and confidence in the police had been lost, and the force would not be able to rectify their experiences.
“It is vital that improvements are led by victims’ experiences, and if they do come forward, they are supported, protected and taken seriously.”
A recent report by Baroness Casey found a significant over-representation of Asian men who are suspects in grooming gangs in Greater Manchester, adding though authorities are in “denial” more needs to be done to understand why this is the case.
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Teen caught in child sex exploitation
Inspectors also said there were “training gaps” in some investigation teams and issues with data sharing, with local councils sometimes not willing to provide detectives with information, leading to “significant delays in investigations” into grooming gangs.
It cites problems with intelligence provided by Manchester City Council, which took months to arrive and “was so heavily redacted that some pages contained only a few words”, the report said.
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GMP is the only force in the country to set up a dedicated team to investigate grooming gangs. Called the Child Sexual Exploitation Major Investigation Team (CSE MIT) it has about 100 staff and a ringfenced budget.
In October 2024, the force told inspectors there were 59 live multi-victim, multi-offender child sexual exploitation investigations, of which 13 were being managed by the CSE MIT.
The report adds: “The force fully accepts that it made mistakes in the past.
“It has taken positive and effective steps to learn from these mistakes and improve how it investigates recent and non-recent child sexual exploitation.”
Separately, the Baird Inquiry published in July 2024 found officers at GMP were abusing their power – making unlawful arrests, unlawful and demeaning strip searches, sometimes treating victims as perpetrators, and traumatising those who have suffered sexual abuse or domestic violence.
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