Ed Davey urges this winter NHS crisis to be our last in final Brighton conference speech
The Liberal Democrat leader also called on Keir Starmer to "sort out" issues with Carer's Allowance which left thousands in debt
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has urged the government to focus on putting an end to recurring NHS winter crises as he ends his speech at the party's four-day conference in Brighton.
With his MPs behind him, Sir Ed Davey danced at the end of his keynote speech, as confetti fell from the auditorium ceiling when he finished his speech.
His key points included calling on Keir Starmer to "sort out" issues with overpayments of Carer's Allowance, investing "wisely" in the NHS, and celebrating his party's success - even singing along to Abba's "Take a Chance" as he arrived on stage.
The leader of the Liberal Democrats said: "It's been joyful, hasn't it?
"Getting together to celebrate, and to start planning the future - having fun, but with a serious focus.
"It reminds me of our election campaign. Do you know they wanted me to wear a wetsuit today?
"But I said it was abseiling or nothing, so here we are, having a party after winning our largest number of MPs for over 100 years."
Turning to the NHS, Sir Ed Davey said:
"We have the short-term negative thinking that leads Governments to postpone hospital repairs and cancel new buildings - short-term thinking to save a bit of money now, even though you know it will only cost a lot more in the future."
"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?"
He pledged to work with Keir Starmer for a solution to the Carers Allowance overpayments caused by "administrative failures by the Department for Work and Pensions" and left "many carers with sizeable debts".
However, Chairman of the Conservative Party Richard Fuller said that Sir Ed Davey's conference speech "confirms" that the Liberal Democrats will not hold Labour to account.
Following the speech, Mr Fuller said: "This confirms that Ed Davey will not hold this Labour Government, his 'pen pals' to account.
"The Liberal Democrats are supposed to be an opposition party, but all their MPs do is agree with everything that Labour want to do.
"Only the Conservative Party will provide an effective opposition to the Labour Government."
The Liberal Democrat Leader used part of his speech to compare the Tory leadership race to "a new reality TV show" called "Strictly Come Pandering".
He added it is clear that the as the Conservatives "simply cannot fulfil" the role of opposition.
He said the party "showed themselves to be totally unfit to govern our country - and the British people rightly booted them out".
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