NHS ‘critical’ in October budget, says Davey on rural break from conference

Care and the NHS, which Sir Ed Davey described as “critical” for the economy, will remain his party’s focus going into the budget, the Liberal Democrat leader has said.

Sir Ed left his party’s conference in Brighton on Monday morning to visit volunteers in the Sussex countryside, where he helped them replace a stile near Ditchling village.

He also saw inside Oldland Mill near Hassocks, and helped “wind” the restored structure, moving the sails manually into the wind.

“There are just too many people on waiting lists who want to be able to work again, who want to be fit for work again,” Sir Ed told the PA news agency.

“Unless they can see their GPs, unless they can get their hospital treatment, they won’t be able to go back to work and we need those people working. Employers are crying out for staff and if we get that we can boost our economy.”

The Liberal Democrats vowed to reform social care during the 2024 general election campaign, and Sir Ed fronted their “A Fair Deal on Care” manifesto, which proposed a new £2-an-hour higher Care Worker’s Minimum Wage and free personal care throughout England “so that provision is based on need, not ability to pay”.

Asked about Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first budget due on October 30, Sir Ed said: “I think NHS and care are absolutely critical, both to save our NHS and to get our economy going.”

Near Ditchling, Sir Ed dug the old wooden stile out of the ground with volunteers from The Monday Group, which helps maintain footpaths in Sussex.

He and Mid Sussex MP Alison Bennett also helped to install a new fixture, before landowner Howard Corney served wine from his next-door Court Garden vineyard.

“It would be wrong not to have a small glass when you deserve it,” Mr Corney said.

Sir Ed is expected to make his flagship speech in Brighton on Tuesday, the conference’s fourth day.

Monday’s agenda coincided with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to Italy, where he met his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni and was briefed on Italy’s efforts to intercept small boat crossings.

Reacting to the Prime Minister’s visit, Sir Ed said: “It’s important we stop the boats.

“We don’t want these tragedies in the English Channel and we don’t want illegal immigrants coming that way.

“I think we really need to stop the boats, and so maybe if we can learn some lessons from what Italy has done successfully, as they’ve worked with Tunisia and Libya.

“And what we, the Liberal Democrats, have said all along: the solution is that international cooperation, where you both help the country where the boats are coming from to stop the boats and you crackdown on the criminal gangs behind this and we want to see more action along those lines.”

On his party’s autumn conference, Sir Ed said: “We’ve got windmills, we’ve got jet skis, so we’re having a great time.”

Speaking at the event in Brighton, the party’s deputy leader Daisy Cooper recalled a “sobering” conversation with Sir Ed in 2020.

She told the conference: “Back in 2020 just after I became deputy leader, I remember one of my very first conversations with Ed, and it was quite sobering.

“He said to me Daisy: ‘We both know we’ve only got 11 MPs, but when you add up our majorities, do you know how few votes stand between us and extinction? Our majorities add up to 69,664 votes.

“‘If we lose just half of those votes to the Tories, we will be wiped out’.”

She added: “Until now, I haven’t shared that conversation with a single living soul. Why? Well because conference we didn’t want you, didn’t want anybody to know that we were in survival mode.”

On her party’s general election success, taking 72 seats throughout Great Britain, Ms Cooper vowed to “keep taking the fight to the Tories”.

She said: “The Conservatives promised that the NHS was safe in their hands, but they have brought it to its knees.

“We must keep their hands off it, we must keep taking the fight to the Tories, we must finish the job.”