Ed Davey's speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference

Good afternoon conference, and thank you Jamie.

Welcome to our Liberal Democrat family!

I hope someone’s explained that it’s after my speech that you get you fitted for a wetsuit. And choose your paddleboard.

Friends, it’s great to have Jamie here – and he’s just one of thousands of former Scottish Conservatives now turning to the Liberal Democrats.

Former Conservatives who’ve seen their old party move further and further away from the fundamental, decent values we share.

Who’ve heard Conservative leaders sound more and more like Nigel Farage and Donald Trump.

Who feel let down and taken for granted by today’s Conservative Party.

So many former lifelong Conservative voters - who feel the same way as Jamie.

Voters who believe in the fundamental values of fairness, decency, freedom, and respect for the rule of law –

And who no longer see those values reflected in the party of…. Boris Johnson.  Liz Truss. And Kemi Badenoch.

But who have found their values strong in the Liberal Democrats.

Our commitments on business and enterprise. On social liberalism and equality. On climate change and the environment.

So we welcome them, just like we welcome you today Jamie. Thank you.

And friends, it is wonderful to be back in Inverness – especially now that this great city has a great Liberal Democrat MP once more.

Wasn’t it fitting that this seat –

The seat of our dear friend Charles, who was such a tireless champion for our party and the fair, free and open society we want to build –

That Charles’s old seat was the last to declare in July, and took us to that incredible total of seventy-two MPs.

So I want to start by saying thank you.

Thank you - to all of you - for all your hard work at last year’s general election –

To send Angus and Susan. To join Wendy, Alastair, Christine and Jamie. As our brilliant team of Scottish MPs in the House of Commons!

And thank you for everything you did - to help us secure that record-breaking result. The best for any Liberal party in over one hundred years!

Now we’ve just launched our local election campaign in England, and I was keen to come and talk to you today because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’ve got a fight on our hands against a really nasty, divisive party of populist nationalists…

And I think you know a thing or two about how to deal with that sort of politics.

And we all know the grave threat that Nigel Farage and his Reform party pose to people and communities across our United Kingdom.

Don’t let people forget… Farage is a man who said Vladimir Putin is the world leader he most admires –

And calls Donald Trump his “inspiration”.

Putin – a tyrant responsible for the brutal suppression of Russia’s own people. And countless atrocities in Ukraine.

And Trump – a President willing to sell out not only our brave Ukrainian allies, but our security too. European security and UK security.

Who is doing terrible damage to the world economy - and trampling over free trade - with his destructive tariffs.

Trump and Putin. The men Nigel Farage and Reform look up to.

The men whose interests Farage and Reform would serve.

Not people here in Inverness. Not the people of Scotland. Not the interests of the British people.

With all the volatility in the world at the moment –

Putin’s war on Ukraine. Trump’s trade war.

The rise of China, and the existential threat of global climate change –

This is no time for a nationalist.

What people need are real patriots.

And that is who we are, conference.

And on domestic issues too, Nigel Farage is also completely out of touch with real British values.

Just look at what he says about the National Health Service.

He’s called for an American-style insurance-based model.

He says he’s “open to anything” – including privatisation.

Nigel Farage has long made clear that he simply doesn’t believe in the fundamental NHS principle of universal healthcare free at the point of use.

Farage and Reform don’t stand up for better healthcare. Or better social care. They don’t even talk about it – because they don’t care.

And given the mess the SNP have made of the NHS and social care here in Scotland –

Just like the Conservatives have done in England – and Labour has done in Wales

People across Scotland and across the UK desperately need a party that gets the NHS.

That understands social care. A party that has great health and care policies. A party that cares. And that is us.

Never forget - the NHS is a proud Liberal invention.

We Liberal Democrats will always defend an NHS free at the point of use – and we will always campaign for better social care

In Scotland and across the UK.

Against Farage, against Reform and against anyone putting people’s health and care services at risk.

But Conference there’s something even bigger at stake in our battle against the populism and nationalism of Reform or the SNP.

Amid all this global turmoil, it’s not just an election that’s at stake. Not just a set of policies. But the very future of liberal democracy itself.

Because we know where divisive politics leads, don’t we?

If we don’t stop it.

We’ve seen it before, across history.

It may start seeming reasonable, even beguiling…

With an appeal to “common sense” and “plain speaking”.

But we know what happens next.

When cynical, opportunistic politicians seize on the struggles and the anxieties of ordinary people –

Anxieties about the cost of living. Cultural and technological change. Sovereignty and security.

When they point the finger of blame at those who differ from you

because of their religion

or their nationality

or the colour of their skin.

When they manipulate new forms of media to spread lies, sow fear and stir division.

That is the populist playbook.

It’s the same playbook Donald Trump is using in the United States.

The same one the SNP have been using for years here in Scotland.

And now Reform are using for their own purposes across the UK.

And friends.  With the Conservatives desperately chasing Reform’s tail –

And Labour sounding more and more like them every day –

It falls to us – to the Liberal Democrats – to take them on.

Because we are the only ones with the courage and the conviction to stand up and offer something different.

We’re the only ones who can truly defeat the populism and cynicism, and restore trust in our democracy.

The only ones who offer real hope.

And how do we do that?

The way Liberal Democrats have always done it:

With good old-fashioned community politics.

Working hard for our communities.

Rolling up our sleeves and getting things done.

Showing people that politics can deliver for them.

Did you see Angus MacDonald’s presentation of his brilliant plan for sorting out care homes for the elderly across the Highlands?

That’s community politics and a local champion in practice.

That’s what we Liberal Democrats are all about. Who we are.

It’s how we win, and it’s what sets us apart from the other parties.

And it’s what our opponents hate most about us.

Like Kemi Badenoch, sneering at us for being the people who fix church roofs, instead of the ones arguing on Twitter.

I think she meant it as an insult – but she’s right, isn’t she? Liberal Democrats fix things.

We get the job done.

Whether in local councils, in Holyrood or in Westminster, Liberal Democrats are tireless local champions for our communities.

I’m really proud of our sextet of Scottish MPs and the impact they’re making

Both on the national stage and for their communities.

Susan Murray – standing up for Mid Dunbartonshire’s small businesses and its local health services.

Angus MacDonald – who after years of tireless campaigning has secured funding to replace Belford Hospital in Fort William.

Jamie Stone – a tenacious champion of maternity services in the Highlands…

Something we heard David Green speak about so powerfully earlier. And won’t David be a brilliant local champion for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross at Holyrood next year?

Christine Jardine, who as well as standing up for the people of Edinburgh West is also recognised across the political spectrum for the action she has driven forward to tackle domestic abuse and violence against women and girls.

Wendy Chamberlain, our fabulous Chief Whip who not only does a great job keeping our seventy-two MPs in line –

Only occasionally having to deploy her famous shinty stick…

But has also changed the law to give unpaid carers the legal right to one week of carer’s leave every year.

A cause especially close to my heart, as you know.

And Alistair Carmichael – who this summer will enter his twenty-fifth year as MP for Orkney and Shetland.

And who is now leading the fight to support Britain’s farmers, fishers and rural communities as chair of Parliament’s cross-party Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of joining Alastair – and many of you – in the Northern Isles for a dinner to celebrate seventy-five years since the great Jo Grimond first won the seat for the Liberal Party.

I discovered that sometime in the seventies, someone painted “Vote Jo” on a bridge in the west of Shetland – and someone in the community has secretly been keeping it topped up ever since.

Now there are communities who know what a difference it makes to have a Liberal Democrat local champion!

First Jo, then Jim. Later Tavish.  Now Alistair, Liam and Beatrice.

Just think, conference… Just eight years ago Alistair was flying the flag alone in the House of Commons, as our only Scottish Liberal Democrat MP.

Now we have an incredible team of six.

And let me tell you – if you have a church roof that needs fixing, these are the people to call.

Dedicated, energetic, caring.

But our renewed strength in Scotland didn’t happen by accident.

It is a testament to all of your hard work and campaigning over many years.

It is a testament to Willie Rennie and his hard work. Thank you Willie for so much – but especially for all your work with Susan Murray in Mid Dunbartonshire.

And I want to pay a special tribute to my friend and our incredible leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats –

The campaigner’s campaigner –   Alex Cole-Hamilton. How many doors have you knocked on this year?  Thank you Alex, and thank you all for everything you have done to get us here –

And everything you are doing to get as many brilliant Liberal Democrat local champions elected to Holyrood next year.

I look forward to campaigning with you and celebrating even more success! Thank you.