Ed Davey calls on Starmer and Sunak to make ‘cast iron commitment’ to cross-party talks on social care crisis

Published

1 year ago

March 17, 2024

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Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer to include a “cast iron commitment” to cross party talks on social care in their election manifestos.

In a speech at the party’s spring conference in York, he said the prime minister and Labour leader should bring their ideas “to the table” as the crisis in care needs a “long term solution” lasting beyond one term in parliament.

Politics Live: Rishi Sunak ‘will lead Tories’ into next election

Sir Ed said: “Like so many big challenges, fixing social care will take a different kind of politics.

“Because it needs a long-term agreement. One that will stand the test of time – and last beyond one parliament and one party’s turn in government.

“That’s why we are calling on all parties to include in their manifestos a cast-iron commitment to finally hold cross-party talks on social care.”

Sir Ed, who is a carer for his disabled teenage son, said finding a solution to care has been “kicked down the road for far too long”, with people facing “catastrophic costs” and forced to sell their own homes “just because they or their loved ones need care”.

In a direct message to his political rivals, he said: “Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer… come to the table. Bring your ideas.

“Let’s finally sort this out.”

In the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto, then-prime minister Boris Johnson said that “nobody needing care should be forced to sell their home to pay for it”.

He later announced plans to cap the costs of social care, but they were delayed by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in the November 2022 budget.

Both the Conservatives and Labour have been largely quiet on the matter, with the looming general election dominated by issues like the economy, NHS and immigration.

Sir Ed used much of his speech to goad the prime minister into calling an election now, saying the date of the next vote “is the only thing left that Rishi Sunak controls any more”.

“He certainly doesn’t control his party, certainly not his cabinet, certainly not the healthcare crisis or the economy,” he said.

“In fact, the prime minister sounds like he’s given up.”

He agued his party was the only one to offer “transformational change”, while the Tories and Labour were just “tinkering around the edges”.

As well as talking about social care, Sir Ed used his speech to discuss issues the party has been heavily campaigning on like the NHS, sewage in the rivers and the need for electoral reform.

The party leader also touched on what he would do about Brexit – an issue he’s been reluctant to be drawn on in the past.

He said he wants to set the UK “on the path back to the Single Market”.

“Our plan to repair the damage the Conservatives have done and, in time, to restore Britain’s place at the heart of Europe. Where we belong,” he said.

The Lib Dems are hoping to make gains in traditional Conservative strongholds at the election, particularly seeking to win over voters in the South and southwest of England – the so-called “blue wall”.

The party has struggled at general elections since its coalition with the Conservatives in 2010, winning only 11 seats at the last election in 2019.

But it has since gained formerly Tory constituencies across southern England in a series of by-elections, including Chesham and Amersham in Buckinghamshire, Frome in Somerset, Tiverton and Honiton in Devon, and North Shropshire.

Sir Ed’s speech came as the prime minister faced reports that some Conservative MPs are plotting to replace him before the election, and criticism over his handling of the emergence of alleged racist remarks about Labour’s Diane Abbott by major Tory donor Frank Hester.

But earlier cabinet minister Marker Harper dismissed rumours of a mutiny, telling Sky News the prime minister will lead the country into the next election and his decisions “will pay off”.

The election must be held by January 2025 at the latest, but Mr Sunak has said his “working assumption” is that it will happen in the second half of this year.

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‘No doubt’ UK will spend 3% of GDP on defence in next parliament, defence secretary says

Published

2 hours ago

May 31, 2025

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'No doubt' UK will spend 3% of GDP on defence in next parliament, defence secretary says

There is “no doubt” the UK “will spend 3% of our GDP on defence” in the next parliament, the defence secretary has said.

John Healey’s comments come ahead of the publication of the government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) on Monday.

This is an assessment of the state of the armed forces, the threats facing the UK, and the military transformation required to meet them.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously set out a “clear ambition” to raise defence spending to 3% in the next parliament “subject to economic and fiscal conditions”.

Mr Healey has now told The Times newspaper there is a “certain decade of rising defence spending” to come, adding that this commitment “allows us to plan for the long term. It allows us to deal with the pressures.”

A government source insisted the defence secretary was “expressing an opinion, which is that he has full confidence that the government will be able to deliver on its ambition”, rather than making a new commitment.

The UK currently spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, with Sir Keir announcing plans to increase that to 2.5% by 2027 in February.

This followed mounting pressure from the White House for European nations to do more to take on responsibility for their own security and the defence of Ukraine.

The 2.3% to 2.5% increase is being paid for by controversial cuts to the international aid budget, but there are big questions over where the funding for a 3% rise would be found, given the tight state of government finances.

While a commitment will help underpin the planning assumptions made in the SDR, there is of course no guarantee a Labour government would still be in power during the next parliament to have to fulfil that pledge.

A statement from the Ministry of Defence makes it clear that the official government position has not changed in line with the defence secretary’s comments.

The statement reads: “This government has announced the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the end of the Cold War – 2.5% by 2027 and 3% in the next parliament when fiscal and economic conditions allow, including an extra £5bn this financial year.

“The SDR will rightly set the vision for how that uplift will be spent, including new capabilities to put us at the leading edge of innovation in NATO, investment in our people and making defence an engine for growth across the UK – making Britain more secure at home and strong abroad.”

Sir Keir commissioned the review shortly after taking office in July 2024. It is being led by Lord Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary and NATO secretary general.

The Ministry of Defence has already trailed a number of announcements as part of the review, including plans for a new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command and a £1bn battlefield system known as the Digital Targeting Web, which we’re told will “better connect armed forces weapons systems and allow battlefield decisions for targeting enemy threats to be made and executed faster”.

On Saturday, the defence secretary announced a £1.5bn investment to tackle damp, mould and make other improvements to poor quality military housing in a bid to improve recruitment and retention.

Mr Healey pledged to “turn round what has been a national scandal for decades”, with 8,000 military family homes currently unfit for habitation.

He said: “The Strategic Defence Review, in the broad, will recognise that the fact that the world is changing, threats are increasing.

“In this new era of threat, we need a new era for defence and so the Strategic Defence Review will be the vision and direction for the way that we’ve got to strengthen our armed forces to make us more secure at home, stronger abroad, but also learn the lessons from Ukraine as well.

“So an armed forces that can be more capable of innovation more quickly, stronger to deter the threats that we face and always with people at the heart of our forces… which is why the housing commitments that we make through this strategic defence review are so important for the future.”