Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has been told to return to the party to its free market roots to attract more moderate Tory voters if Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick win the Conservative leadership election.
The party made significant inroads in the ‘Blue Wall’ during the election, winning seats in former Tory strongholds to become Westminster’s third-largest group once again.
As the 72 MPs arrived in Brighton for the annual conference, however, Sir Ed was warned that the party must now unite around an identity of lower taxes and state intervention to avoid squandering their electoral progress.
This year’s conference is likely to focus on the NHS and social care – but some figures within the party feel that refocusing attention on holding Sir Keir Starmer to account and prioritising economic, social, personal and political liberalism is key to challenging the Tories for second place.
This would also include taking the fight to Labour, rather than a strategy of consolidation favoured by party strategists.
Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey has been urged to take the party back to its free market roots in a bid to woo moderate Tories
A pressure group has called on Sir Ed to do more to attract disenfranchised Tories should either Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick win the leadership contest
Chair of Liberal Reform, a pressure group within the party, Callum Robertson told the Mail: ‘To finish off the job, the route forward is clear – a liberal economic policy with a socially progressive conscience. Essentially, we need to be playing to how voters in the Home Counties feel.
‘Our 2024 election strategy worked – now it’s about finishing the job. The Tories are weak because they were disorganised and incompetent in running the country. A strong Liberal opposition to Labour has a simple job – provide a check and balance on Labour’s power while providing credible alternatives.
‘We should scrutinise Labour’s plans to make sure they are spending the public’s money wisely. Sensible regulation of government spending is very important to voters.
‘There could definitely be one or two MPs who would come across from the more moderate wing of the Tory party.
‘We’re going after Tory donors and Tory voters as well.
‘We will have a Labour government for five years – it’s about how we oppose them. The Tories are not serious opposition – we are dead serious about replacing them by 2029.’
Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick. A Lib Dem pressure group is urging the leadership to go after Tory donors and voters should either Jenrick or Badenoch win the race
The party’s chief whip Wendy Chamberlain opened the conference by warning the Labour government that they must prioritise saving health and social care services.
Their new status as the third largest party means they will have a ‘far greater ability to affect change now than we did in the previous Parliament’, she will tell delegates.
But she clarified that they will take a ‘very different’ approach to the often forthright SNP and instead be a ‘constructive opposition’ in the Commons.
Strategists are hoping to continue putting pressure on seats like Godalming and Ash, where Shadow Chancellor Jeremy Hunt held on by just 891 votes, as well as shoring up support in dozens of new constituencies won.