Davey urges party 'to finish.the job' and overtake Tories

Sir Ed Davey is expected to lay out his plan to overtake the Tories at the next general election and “finish the job” his party believe they started this year.

- DAVID MADDOX, ARCHIE MITCHELL

The triumphant Liberal Democrat leader, now heading a group of 72 MPs, will use much of his party conference speech in Brighton to focus on the Conservatives and their leadership contest to replace Rishi Sunak, which Sir Ed has described as “scraping the bottom of the barrel”.

Sir Ed – who has become well known for his colourful stunts – will also focus on key priorities of the NHS and social care, and will insist that his party’s success in July means that it has to justify its actions to the voters.

“The modern Conservative Party is so out of touch with so many of its 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,” he is expected to say. “On 4 July we made a great start, but now let’s go further. Let’s finish the job.”

It comes as senior sources in the party have made it clear that while the Lib Dems outperformed their wildest dreams in this year’s election, they have “far from maxed out” in taking seats from the Conservatives, who were reduced to a historic low of 121 seats. Other sources pointed out to The Independent that the Lib Dems came second in 27 seats – 21 of which are held by the Conservatives.