Ed Davey to say Lib Dems must ‘repay’ trust given to party by voters

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey will say the party must “repay” the trust “in full” that was given to them by voters at this year’s general election when he addresses his party’s autumn conference on Tuesday.

Sir Ed is due to deliver his keynote speech on Tuesday afternoon and will pledge to “finish the job” of defeating the Conservatives after the Lib Dems secured 72 seats at this year’s general election.

In his speech, the MP for Kingston and Surbiton is expected to speak again about the NHS – which has been a key topic at the four-day event – as well as those standing to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.

The Lib Dems became Parliament’s third biggest party again after the general election in July with 72 MPs now sitting in the Commons, including many who won seats from the Conservatives.

He will say: “In July, millions of voters put their trust in us – many of them for the first time in their lives. Trusting us to stand up for them, to be their local champions and fight for a fair deal. That trust – the people’s trust – is our mandate. And now we must be true to that mandate and repay that trust in full.”

Health and social care featured prominently in the party’s general election campaign when the Lib Dems vowed to reform social care, and has done again at the Brighton conference.

On Monday, Sir Ed told the PA news agency that “I think NHS and care are absolutely critical, both to save our NHS and to get our economy going”.

On the health service, Sir Ed is expected to say in his speech that “fixing the NHS will not be easy”  but that Lib Dems will “focus on community services”.

“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.”

Earlier in the conference Sir Ed told the BBC that the Lib Dems would be a “different” opposition to the Conservatives, whom he is expected to say “showed themselves to be totally unfit to govern our country”.

In his speech on Tuesday afternoon, he will say: “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.”

He will accuse the Tories of being “so out of touch with so many of their former voters” and vow to “finish the job” they started at the general election.

Following the party’s election defeat, four MPs are in the running for the Conservative leadership: Robert Jenrick, Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly and Kemi Badenoch.

Sir Ed will say the contest is “scraping the bottom of the barrel”, and accuse the candidates of not caring about “real people’s everyday problems”.

The Liberal Democrats’ conference will conclude in Brighton on Tuesday.