Ed Davey's speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat spring conference

Good afternoon Conference!

And thank you Yi-Pei for your kind introduction.

It’s great to be here in Dundee, with you all - my first in-person party conference speech since becoming Federal Party Leader in 2020!

I think we’ve got a few things to celebrate - and I want to start with our latest victory - with Fiona Bennett, and her amazing win in Edinburgh last night!

I want to thank Fiona and all the brilliant team who made that stunning victory possible.

I knocked a few doors myself yesterday - I witnessed the wonderful spirit in our team despite the cold - and just how popular Liberal Democrats are in Edinburgh West!

It reminded me of a canvassing session we had near Murrayfield, before last year’s all out council elections.

I knocked on one door, and the woman who answered said “You’re Ed Davey aren’t you! I think you’re great!”

I was a little stunned, and quite pleased.

But then the voter saw Alex across the road and said “Oh Alex Cole-Hamilton – he’s brilliant!”

And as I reached for my “Join the Liberal Democrats” form, Christine came up the path, and I kid you not, I began to think I was at some teenage pop concert, as the whole family had now come to the door and all shouted.

“Christine Jardine! We LOVE you!”

I put them down as “probable”.

And it wasn’t just in Edinburgh last year, was it?

The best council election results for the Scottish Liberal Democrats for over a decade.

Well done - a brilliant effort by the whole party across Scotland.

But I hope you don’t mind me paying a particular tribute to the Leader of our Scottish Party, Alex Cole-Hamilton.

Now I talk to Alex most weeks.

And don’t tell him I said this, but it’s always my favourite conversation of the week.

Alex is nothing if not ambitious for Scottish Liberal Democrats and Scottish Liberalism - and he’s right to be.

Just a few months ago, Alex launched his ambitious One-Fifty Rising strategy –

To start campaigning now for the next council elections in twenty-twenty-seven –

Right across Scotland. In places where we’re already strong, and places that have never elected a Liberal Democrat before.

And my stark question to all of you today is this. What have you done, personally, to support and get behind Alex’s fantastic strategy?

If you take nothing else from this Conference - after last May’s superb results, after Fiona’s fabulous win last night - let it be this.

Go and find more brilliant candidates now, this year, way ahead of the next elections - and follow Alex’s awesome lead!

But there is something else I want you to do, for me.

Help me get rid of Tory and SNP MPs! And re-elect and elect fabulous Liberal Democrat MPs.

You know, it was so wonderful to be in East Dunbartonshire yesterday, with the fantastic Susan Murray.

Susan is already working tirelessly for her constituents - not just as a Councillor but as the MP-in-waiting.

Talking to Susan, she is someone who understands the NHS - how the SNP are ruining it here in Scotland, and how it could be saved and turned around. Susan gets what being a carer means, and how vital reforming social care is.

So if you can get to East Dunbartonshire, and help build Susan’s team, please, please do it. I can’t wait to welcome her to Westminster.

Scottish Liberal Democrat MPs have a track record of being brilliant at Westminster - and that’s why this morning I had another great visit, with the Chief Whip across the Tay in Saint Andrews.

Wendy Chamberlain - what a great campaigner - in the Commons and in her constituency.

This morning, we watched robot golfers - swinging their clubs with perfect power and precision. I was a little taken aback though when Wendy ordered a robot golfer to - and quote “improve discipline in the parliamentary party”!

And as I saw Wendy talk to people in her constituency this morning, I mused that there’s one thing that connects our councillors and campaigners like Fiona Bennett to our candidates like Susan to our MSPs and MPs like Alex and Wendy:

it’s just how well they are connected to the communities they represent.

Hearing their concerns on the doorstep. Showing them we care.

First winning their trust - and then ultimately their votes.

In other words: community politics.

Conference, community politics is something our party is built on.

It’s what sets us apart from the other parties.

It’s how we’ve won in the past – whether in elections for councils, for Holyrood or for Westminster.

It’s how we’re winning today, from Tiverton and Honiton to Corstorphine and Murrayfield.

And it’s how we’ll win in the future.

Now, someone was asking me earlier: what’s the difference between my job as the Federal Party Leader and Alex’s job as the Leader in Scotland?

Well, my job is all about holding to account an out-of-touch Government,

A Government that’s so embroiled in party in-fighting, it’s ignoring the big challenges facing ordinary people.

Holding to account a Government so focused on its own ideological obsession, that it’s ignoring the cost-of-living crisis and the NHS crisis.

Holding to account, an out-of-touch, in-fighting ideological Government that takes people for granted, stirs up division, and threatens the very future of our great United Kingdom.

And Conference, Alex’s job, taking on the SNP - is exactly the same!

Whether it’s in Westminster or Holyrood,

Whether it’s the Conservatives or the SNP,

Whether here in Scotland or across the UK,

People are being let down and taken for granted by Ministers who just don’t get it or simply don’t care.

And now the SNP are taking another leaf out of the Conservatives’ book…

Having seen how well those Tory leadership elections worked out for them last year,

The SNP have decided to hold one of their own.

But before I get into that, let me just say a few words about Nicola Sturgeon.

She and I obviously have big political disagreements –

Not least about the future of our family of nations, the United Kingdom.

But Nicola has also been a dedicated public servant - a giant of Scottish politics for two decades.

Above all, she smashed through the glass ceiling to become the first woman to lead her party and the first female First Minister.

So it’s right that we wish her all the best in whatever she does next, outside politics.

But as the SNP’s leadership race is demonstrating, Nicola leaves huge problems behind.

For after sixteen years in power, the SNP’s record is a one of complete and utter failure.

They’ve failed on the NHS – with big backlogs and long delays for patients.

Failed on maternity services – forcing women in Caithness to travel a hundred miles to get the care they need, as Jamie Stone has highlighted so powerfully.

And they’ve failed businesses – most recently, with their botched deposit return scheme.

They’ve failed on education – leaving disadvantaged children behind.

Failed on crime – taking police off the streets, as violence rises.

And failed on the environment – dumping raw sewage straight into rivers and lochs.

So many failures. So many crises.

So many people, so cruelly let down by this SNP Government.

And if their leadership contest has made anything clear, it’s this:

None of the contenders to replace Nicola Sturgeon will clear up the mess she’s left behind.

Because just like Sturgeon before them and Salmond before her, the SNP contenders are blinkered by their total obsession with breaking up our United Kingdom.

The SNP is a party united about that - and divided about everything else.

Watching their candidates tear lumps out of each other might be fun, if only it wasn’t Scotland’s future at stake.

Who could have guessed that a party whose very existence is to divide - would find itself engulfed in such poisonous divisions?

Conference, Scotland deserves so much better than this awful mess.

The Scottish people deserve so much better than this awful SNP Government.

And the UK deserves so much better than this awful Conservative Government.

They’re both out of touch and both out of ideas.

It’s time to get both of them out of office.

What worries me most, as I campaign around our country, is how badly people across the UK are hurting right now.

They are working hard, raising families and playing by the rules –

But finding it harder and harder to make ends meet.

We are facing the worst cost-of-living crisis in our lifetimes.

Yet time and time again, the out-of-touch Conservative Government just lets everyone down.

As soaring energy bills, food prices and housing costs overwhelm millions of families and pensioners, rather than helping, the Conservatives have added to the pain - with all their chaos.

They crashed our economy, adding hundreds of pounds to people’s monthly mortgage payments.

They’ve imposed unfair tax rises and deep cuts to key public services, just to pay for the damage they themselves caused.

And they’ve ignored Liberal Democrat calls to give families and businesses more help with their energy bills, funded by a proper windfall tax on the record profits of the oil and gas giants.

With gas prices now falling, the Government could afford to cut energy bills in next week’s budget –

To give struggling families a little more breathing room when next month’s bills come due –

But it seems Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt are saying “No” to more help with energy costs.

But there’s still time for them to reconsider.

Jeremy Hunt still has four days before his first Budget.

The choice before him is clear:

Help families across the UK by cutting their energy bills now.

Or protect the unearned billions Shell and BP are raking in, thanks to Putin’s war in Ukraine.

The British people will not forget which choice he makes on Wednesday.

Conference, I’m proud that our party has led the debate on the energy crisis since the very beginning.

Leading the calls for a windfall tax almost eighteen months ago.

Leading the calls for an energy bills freeze last summer –

And leading the call for a Budget cut in energy bills.

But we also know that, while people and businesses need help in the face of inflation now –

They need an economic plan - a plan to get our economy growing strongly again for the long-term too.

To create jobs, raise living standards and tackle poverty.

And a key part of that plan has to be trade. With our neighbours.

Conference, the UK needs to mend our trading relationship with Europe.

As a result of the Conservatives’ botched trade deal with Europe, businesses, fishers, and farmers in Scotland and across the UK are tangled up in red tape and struggling to sell their goods abroad.

The Conservatives’ dogmatic approach on trade is damaging our economy - and impacting the UK’s standing on the world stage.

Instead of Tory damaging dogmatism, we need Liberal healing pragmatism.

That’s why Liberal Democrats opposed the Conservatives’ terrible deal from the start. And why we argue for a practical way forward now.

To cut down on red tape, reduce costs for businesses, and make everyone better off.

A way that understands that Britain’s best future is at the heart of Europe.

Fellow Liberal Democrats, we are the internationalists of British politics.

Against the nationalists in Scotland, England and Wales.

For a bigger, more positive role for the UK in the world.

Whether it’s standing alongside our Ukrainian allies as they face down Putin’s aggression – and I know you’ll give Ukrainian MP, Kira Rudik, from our sister party a warm welcome when she speaks tomorrow -

Or championing the UK’s commitment to spend zero-point-seven percent of national income on overseas aid - enshrined in law by my former colleague from the Scottish Borders, Michael Moore –

Or defending the proud British tradition of providing sanctuary to refugees forced out of their homes by war and persecution.

Conference, could there be a starker contrast between the big-hearted generosity of the British people and the small-minded cruelty of this Conservative Government?

Tens of thousands of families across the UK opened their homes to Ukrainian refugees fleeing war and seeking safety –

Now the Conservatives are slamming the door in the faces of all refugees who do the same.

Just look at what Suella Braverman’s new Bill actually says…

It would punish the victims of human trafficking and modern slavery instead of going after the criminal perpetrators.

It would subject refugee children to indefinite detention and seek to deport them to Rwanda.

Refugee children.

Oh – and it would do absolutely nothing to actually stop the problem of people crossing the Channel in small boats, or tackle the enormous backlog of asylum seekers waiting months for their claims to be processed.

It would only make those problems worse.

That’s why the Liberal Democrats will do all we can to stop the Braverman Bill in its tracks –

And I am very glad that we have someone with all the tenacity and determination of Alistair Carmichael leading the opposition to it in the House of Commons.

Conference, in the face of these big challenges,

With these appalling, out-of-touch governments in Westminster and Holyrood,

The Liberal Democrats are needed more than ever.

Championing liberalism and championing internationalism.

Leading the charge to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and the NHS crisis.

Defending the future of our family of nations.

Working hard for our communities.

Fighting for a fair deal for everyone –

Here in Scotland and right across the UK.

That’s our job, and I know you’re up for it. So let’s get to it.

Thank you.