Ed Davey makes ‘C-word’ dig at the Tories as he uses Lib Dem conference speech to take aim at Conservatives over the NHS and cost-of-living crisis

Sir Ed Davey today made a ‘C-word’ dig at the Tories as he used his Liberal Democrat conference speech to take aim at the Government over the NHS and cost-of-living crisis.

The Lib Dem leader, who is hoping to win so-called ‘Blue Wall’ seats off the Tories at the general election, sniped at the Conservatives for ‘failing to deliver’ on healthcare and the economy.

Sir Ed claimed he had ‘never known our country so badly governed’ as he listed a series of problems with public services – including the concrete crisis in schools, and courts backlogs.

He kicked off his conference speech to Lib Dem members in Bournemouth by saying ‘clown’ is the ‘wrong C-word’ for the Conservatives.

The party leader recalled how he branded the Government ‘clowns’ following the Lib Dems’ victory in the Somerton and Frome by-election earlier this year.

Sir Ed Davey made a ‘C-word’ dig at the Tories as he used his Liberal Democrat conference speech to take aim at the Government over the NHS and cost-of-living crisis

The Lib Dem leader, who is hoping to win so-called ‘Blue Wall’ seats off the Tories at the general election, sniped at the Conservatives for ‘failing to deliver’ on healthcare and the economy

Sir Ed claimed he had ‘never known our country so badly governed’ as he listed a series of problems with public services – including the concrete crisis in schools, and courts backlogs

Sir Ed offered an apology to the ‘whole clowning community’ – as well as a clown enthusiast party member who was said to have complained about the comparison – for his words.

‘Clowns didn’t crash our economy and send interest rates soaring,’ Sir Ed told Lib Dem delegates.

‘Clowns didn’t let water companies make billions in profits while dumping filthy sewage into our rivers and onto our beaches.

‘Clowns didn’t plunge our NHS into crisis, pushing waiting lists to record highs.’

He added: ‘Clowns didn’t do it. The Conservatives did.

‘So, let me take this opportunity to apologise unreservedly to that party member, and to the whole clowning community. I’m sorry. I used the wrong C-word.’

Sir Ed outlined his party’s plan for a new legal right for cancer patients to start treatment within two months of an urgent referral

Later in his speech, Sir Ed’s voice weakened with emotion as he recalled the deaths of both his parents from cancer.

‘Diagnoses like both my parents were given are no longer necessarily the death sentence today that they were back then,’ he told the Bournemouth conference.

‘But I still think we could be doing so much better on cancer. Far too many people are still waiting far too long for a diagnosis. Or to start treatment after being diagnosed.

‘And, I’m afraid to say, they’ve been let down and forgotten by this Conservative Government.’

Sir Ed outlined his party’s plan for a new legal right for cancer patients to start treatment within two months of an urgent referral.

The Lib Dem leader pledged £4 billion in order to deliver the plan over five years.

The Government already has a target for cancer patients to start treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral, but not all do.

Some 62.6 per cent who had their first treatment in July after an urgent referral had waited under two months, up from 59.2 per cent in June, according to latest NHS performance data.

The Lib Dems want the pledge to be enshrined in law, which they say would make ministers more accountable for failures to meet the target.

It is understood this would involve patients reporting complaints to the health ombudsman, starting a process which could ultimately end with the Government facing legal action under the plan.

NHS Confederation welcomed the commitment but cast doubt on how it would guarantee patients are seen within two months.

Sir Ed has not enjoyed a trouble-free gathering in Bournemouth, with splits emerging over how open the Lib Dems should be about pursuing closer ties to the EU.

One of the largest rounds of applause during his keynote speech came when he told delegates the Lib Dems would ‘fix our broken relationship with Europe’.

Sir Ed attacked the Tories for the deals they have struck with the EU since the UK left the bloc, saying: ‘So much unnecessary pain inflicted on so many by so few.

‘And only the Liberal Democrats have consistently stood up against it.

‘Only we have set out a detailed plan to tear down those trade barriers, fix our broken relationship with Europe and get a better deal for Britain.’

But Sir Ed also took aim at Labour, as he criticised Sir Keir Starmer’s party for having a plan to alter the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU that is ‘nowhere near that ambitious’.

‘Labour has a long way still to go, which means it’s up to us to lead the way – a better economy, a better future, with Europe,’ he added.

Sir Ed has not enjoyed a trouble-free gathering in Bournemouth, with splits emerging over how open the Lib Dems should be about pursuing closer ties to the EU 

The Lib Dem leader was also given a bloody nose when members thwarted his bid to abandon a target for building 380,000 new homes a year – something that could harm their prospect in shire constituencies 

Sir Ed has been trying to raise the Lib Dems’ profile with a series of eye-catching photo ops this week

Sir Ed has not enjoyed a trouble-free gathering in Bournemouth, with splits emerging over how open the Lib Dems should be about pursuing closer ties to the EU. 

The Lib Dem leader was also given a bloody nose when members thwarted his bid to abandon a target for building 380,000 new homes a year – something that could harm their prospect in shire constituencies.

There are also persistent questions over what kind of deal the Lib Dems might do to prop Labour up in power in the case of a hung Parliament, with many supporters wanting Sir Ed to make the price a switch to proportional representation voting.  

On Sunday the Lib Dem leader was heckled after insisting to activists during a Q&A session that he was ‘campaigning hard on Europe’.

‘No, you’re not,’ one audience member replied.

Sir Ed has said people on the doorstep just ‘aren’t talking about Europe’, but senior figures – including former leader Sir Vince Cable – have argued the party should not lose sight of the issue.

An ultimate goal to return to membership status within the bloc is currently official policy, but the leader has appeared reluctant to speak publicly about this and says it is currently off the table.

Plans to abandon a pledge to build 380,000 new homes a year in England were scuppered by rebel activists after the Young Liberals put forward an amendment to keep the 2019 commitment. 

Following a rowdy debate at the event in Bournemouth, the party approved a motion committing it to the target to set a ‘clear direction of travel’ for addressing the housing crisis. 

Sir Ed Davey said it was a ‘rite of passage’ for Lib Dem leaders to face members voting against them at conference as he spoke after the overwhelming defeat. 

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