Davey urges Starmer to be bolder and says Lib Dems will seek to 'consign Tories to history books'

The government must "act faster and be much bolder" in tackling the crises facing the UK, Ed Davey said yesterday in his speech to the Liberal Democrat conference, promising his party would be an antidote to the "pessimism and defeatism" of Keir Starmer.

- Peter Walker

Reiterating his pledge to focus in particular on pushing ministers to act on the NHS and social care, the Lib Dem leader said he would try to be constructive, while warning against what he described as a short-term Treasury mindset about investment.

Addressing a packed conference hall in Brighton, Davey basked in the afterglow of his party's hugely successful general election, moving from 15 MPs to 72, saying he hoped to win more Tory-held seats and "consign the Conservative party to the history books".

Emphasising the huge gains, Davey spoke in front of his MPs, who walked on stage beforehand to wild applause.

Following the theme of the triumphant but generally cautious four-day conference, Davey offered no new policies beyond a call for an expert taskforce to mitigate the effects of a winter crisis in the NHS, and ringfenced funding for several years.

He emphasised that the party had won new seats with a campaign based heavily around the NHS and social care, the cost of living and tackling sewage spills, and that it would stick firmly to that agenda.

"In July, millions of voters put their trust in us - many of them for the first time in their lives," he said.