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.
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”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:07
Fears for social care sector
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.”
Advertisement
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.
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.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:41
‘Sunak will remain Tory leader’ – Transport Secretary Mark Harper
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.
Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino explained that if the hacking group was telling the truth, they would have asked for a ransom, but he “couldn’t find any request.”
The symbolism of Labour taking the West Midlands mayor, a jewel in the Tory crown, could be felt in the room as Labour activists gathered in Birmingham to celebrate the win with their new mayor Richard Parker and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
There are moments on election journeys when the momentum shifts – and this win felt like one of them.
“We humbly asked [the voters] to put their trust and confidence in a changed Labour Party and they did. And that is a significant piece of political history that we’ve made here today,” said Sir Keir at his victory rally.
“So the message out of these elections, the last now the last stop before we go into that general election, is that the country wants change.
“I hope the prime minister is listening and gives the opportunity to the country to vote as a whole in a general election as soon as possible.”
This win gave them the boost that was missing when they won the Blackpool South by-election on a massive 26-point swing, but then failed to pick up the hundreds of council seats they were chasing.
More on Conservatives
Related Topics:
This win, on just 1,508 votes or 0.25 per cent of the vote, was a body blow for a Conservative party that believed they could just about cling on. Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley mayor, is now the last Tory standing.
For Labour, then a moment to bookmark.
Advertisement
Just as Boris Johnson’s Hartlepool by-election win in 2021 was a low point for Sir Keir – he told me this week that he considered resigning over the loss because he thought it showed he was the barrier to Labour’s recovery – this too will feel devastating not just for Andy Street but for the PM too.
Labour has beaten him in a street fight. He’s bloodied with Sir Keir now emboldened.
“This was the one result we really needed,” said one senior Labour figure. “It’s been our top focus for the past week and symbolically a very important win.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
3:32
Analysis of local election and mayoral results
And Labour needed the boost, because, as Professor Michael Thrasher pointed out in his Sky News’ national vote share projection calculated from the local election results, Sir Keir was not picking up the sort of vote share that Tony Blair was winning in the run-up to the 1997 Labour landslide.
His latest calculation of a 35% vote share for Labour and 26% for the Tories, put Sir Keir winning a general election but short of a majority.
What the West Midlands mayoral win did for Sir Keir was to give him a clear narrative that he is coming for the Tories and will do what he needs to take them down.
It raises inevitable questions about what is next for Rishi Sunak. The prime minister had nowhere to go today, not one win to celebrate. The worst performance in council elections in 40 years, was already pretty much as bad as it gets before the loss of Andy Street. The former Conservative mayor was magnanimous towards the prime minister, saying the loss was his alone.
But colleagues will not be so generous. One former cabinet minister said this loss was “devastating”. “We’re done and there’s no appetite to move against him,” said the senior MP. Many Tories tell me they are now resigned to defeat and believe Mr Sunak and his team needed to own it, rather than the rest of the party.
The coming days might be bumpy, the mood will be stony. But Tories tell me not much will actually change for them.
For Sir Keir, he now needs to sell not the changed Labour Party, but his vision for changing the country. The West Mids mayor’s win was dazzling, but it could have so easily gone the other way. And as Mr Sunak fights to survive, Labour still has to fight hard to win.