Liberal Democrats to focus on tax cuts and Europe – Sir Ed Davey

The Liberal Democrats will focus on tax cuts and Europe as they look to get voters on side before the next general election, Sir Ed Davey has said.

They have already called for a 10p fuel duty cut until at least Christmas to ease cost-of-living pressures and Sir Ed said further proposals would be unveiled in his leader’s speech at the annual party conference in Brighton.

The party also wants to rejoin the EU’s customs union and single market, which they say will boost the UK’s economy and allow them to cut taxes.

“It’s really critical. People are suffering with a terrible cost of living. Taxes are now at a post-war high, and the best way to help people who are struggling with their bills is to cut their taxes,” Sir Ed told Sky News.

He later added: “We’ve got the best growth strategy.

“So getting closer to Europe, getting back in the single market, back in the customs union, that will take down those barriers to trade, those costs to businesses brought in by the Conservatives, cheered on by Nigel Farage.

“And if we get those costs down on businesses, get that red tape out of the way, our British businesses, who are fantastic, will thrive in trade, and that will bring jobs and prosperity back to our country, and it’s sorely needed.

“And it will bring tax revenues to the exchequer, which boy do we need, given the state of our public finances, and it will enable us to offer fair tax cuts,” he told Sky.

The party believes a return to the customs union and single market could be negotiated within a year, his deputy Daisy Cooper has said.

The party is seeking to firm up a platform for the next general election at its four-day conference, and as polling has consistently put the Lib Dems behind the other major parties, Sir Ed said he doesn’t look at them, insisting “What I look at is elections”.

They are facing a challenge to cut through to the public amid a crowded field that sees them competing for attention with Labour and the Conservatives as well as rising parties such as Reform UK and the Greens.

Few have seen Sir Ed on social media, heard from the Liberal Democrats, or know what they stand for, polling from More in Common suggested.

The party was described as “weak” by more than half of those surveyed in recent YouGov polling.

And Sir Ed is facing concerns from within as MP Roz Savage said the party was “struggling for relevance” and Devon council leader Julian Brazil said the Lib Dems were “not saying the things that people can relate to”.

Sir Ed said this was a result of the party’s growth, after it won a record 72 seats in Parliament in 2024 and took council seats in local elections.

“We’ve grown really fast in recent years under my leadership. Record number of MPs. We’re running more councils than the Conservatives – councils up and down the country.

“Really proud of that record and it means when you have a bigger party, you can’t please everyone all the time,” he told BBC Breakfast.

He insisted he would lead the party into the next general election.

Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey at Brighton Palace Pier as he arrives for party conference in Brighton (PA)

PA Wire

Elsewhere at the conference, the party is set to vote on its stance on transgender guidance which sets out single-sex toilets and changing rooms must be used on the basis of a person’s sex at birth.

Sir Ed said he backed the move and would vote in favour if he was in the conference hall.

“What we’ve been saying is we don’t think this guidance is fit for purpose. We’re not challenging the law. We’re saying the guidance doesn’t help,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

The Lib Dems have also pledged they would plough £600 million into maternity care, including by bringing in one-to-one midwifery for every woman in labour, which they say a drop in negligence payouts that has totalled £1.3 billion in past years would pay for.

And they would tax big tech firms to fund a new online crime agency to tackle offences involving deepfake revenge porn and drugs and weapons trafficking, with plans to raise around £250 million a year.