Davey also called for the NHS to be made ‘winterproof’
The leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey today drew his party’s conference to a close with a keynote speech in which he said the Lib Dems intend to ‘finish the job’ of unseating Tory MPs.
This fighting talk from Davey matches much of the narrative of the conference, which has been celebratory in tone following the best ever general election result for the Lib Dems in July this year.
Speaking to the conference, Davey branded the Tories ‘totally unfit to govern our country’ and ‘unfit for opposition too’.
He said: “[The Conservatives] showed themselves to be totally unfit to govern our country – and the British people rightly booted them out. And the Conservatives are already showing that they are unfit for opposition too.
“It’s hardly surprising I suppose. Expecting that lot to hold the Government to account on the NHS or the economy would be like putting a bull in charge of repairing the china shop.
“Who would leave the job of upholding ethical standards in government to the gang who put Boris Johnson in Number 10. And when the country needs an opposition to scrutinise next month’s Budget, surely it’s not a job for the Tory geniuses who cheered Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng to the rafters is it?”
He later went on to say that his party would seek to ‘finish the job’ of unseating Tory MPs. Davey said: “The modern Conservative Party is so out of touch with so many of their former voters – so far removed from the real lives of ordinary people that it no longer merits a place at the top table of our politics,” later adding: “Our job is to consign the Conservative Party to the history books.”
He then added: “On 4th July we made a great start, but now let’s go further. Let’s finish the job.”
Elsewhere in his speech, Davey said the Lib Dems wanted to give people ‘hope on health’ and help to ‘fix the NHS’.
He told the conference: “We know that fixing the NHS will not be easy. The Conservative Government broke it so badly, over so many years, that it will take a lot of work to put it back together. But we also know that it must be done, and we know it can be done.
“We can offer people hope on health. Starting with a whole new focus on community services – helping people to get care more quickly and more locally – with more GPs, more NHS dentists and more community pharmacists, so fewer people end up in hospital in the first place.”
He also said that the NHS should be made ‘winterproof’, calling for significant to tackle the annual crisis in the health service in the winter months.
Davey said: “Practically every year I can remember, governments have ended up announcing hundreds of millions of pounds of emergency funding to help the NHS through another winter crisis – to paper over the cracks.
“What if – instead of stumbling from crisis to crisis, instead of throwing more and more money at just plugging the gaps – what if we invested now, to make the NHS winterproof?
“The Government could and should make this year the last winter crisis in our NHS.
“So I urge Labour: do not make the same mistakes the Conservative Party did. Be more positive. Act now. Show the ambition and urgency this moment demands – and save our NHS for good.”
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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