Liberal Democrats Promise ‘Bold, Ambitious and Fully Costed’ Personal Care Plan

Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey arrives at Victoria Park Tennis in Newbury, Berkshire on June 8, 2024. (Will Durrant/PA Wire)

The Liberal Democrats have launched their election manifesto with leader Sir Ed Davey promising to introduce “free personal care” for the elderly and disabled.

Launching the manifesto on Monday, Sir Ed said the £9.4 billion package for the NHS and social care in England was fully costed.

He said: “After years of Conservative chaos and neglect, the scale of the challenge is enormous. So our manifesto doesn’t shy away from that.”

“We are putting forward a bold, ambitious and fully costed plan to tackle the health and care crisis from top to bottom, this is a manifesto to save the NHS,” added Sir Ed.

The party says free personal care would be paid for by increasing taxes on banks and closing loopholes used by the wealthiest individuals and corporations.

The Lib Dems also plan to install a right to see a GP within seven days, improved access to NHS dental care and better access to mental health services.

The 114-page manifesto also includes promises to better regulate the water industry and tackle sewage pollution, a key theme of the Lib Dem campaign.

Lib Dems Promise to ‘End the Sewage Scandal’

The manifesto, entitled “For a Fair Deal,” says, “We will end the sewage scandal by transforming water companies into public benefit companies, banning bonuses for water bosses until discharges and leaks end, and replacing Ofwat with a tough new regulator with powers to prevent sewage dumps.”

It also promises legislation which would recognise, “everyone’s human right to a healthy environment and guaranteeing access to environmental justice.”

Sir Ed’s election campaign began with him falling off a paddleboard and into Lake Windermere last month during a photo opportunity designed to highlight the issue of water quality and sewage pollution.

Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey falls into the water while paddleboarding on Lake Windermere, Cumbria, England on May 28, 2024. (Peter Byrne/PA Wire)

Introducing Sir Ed on Monday, Munira Wilson, who has been the Lib Dem MP for Twickenham since 2019, described him light-heartedly as, “our paddle-boarding blue wall destroyer-in-chief,” a reference to a string of Conservative seats the Lib Dems are targeting.

But during his speech Sir Ed told his personal story, which the party has used in a campaign video, about how his father died of Hodgkin’s lymphoma when he was four and his mother died of cancer when he was 15, after a six-year battle. Sir Ed and his wife have a severely disabled son, John.

He said: “It’s not just my story. It’s a story of millions of people across the country looking after loved ones, making sacrifices, finding it exhausting sometimes, but so full of love.”

‘Carers Have Been in the Shadows for Far Too Long’

“Carers have been in the shadows for far too long and I’m proud as a party we have brought it into the light,” added Sir Ed.

He said, “The truth is that unless we properly value care, unless we properly support carers, we will never be able to fix the crisis in our NHS or get our economy back on track.”

Sir Ed said there “was no doubt that both the NHS and care are in crisis” with six million people on hospital waiting lists and “tens of thousands” of cancer patients waiting months to start urgent treatment.

“Hospital roofs are literally crumbling, and the Conservatives have broken their promise to build 40 new ones,” he added.

At the end of the speech, Sir Ed promised to put “real power in people’s hands” and hold the “over-powerful to account.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey (L) playing crazy golf at Wokingham Family Golf in Wokingham, England on June 8, 2024. (Will Durrant/PA Wire)

Sir Ed, served in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat as plain Ed Davey and was postal minister between May 2010 and February 2012, when he was promoted to Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change by Lord David Cameron.

In the 2016 New Year’s honours list he was knighted for “political and public service” on the recommendation of Lord Cameron and former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

In April, Sir Ed apologised to Post Office scandal campaigner Alan Bates for writing a letter which the ex-subpostmaster labelled “offensive.”

Mr. Bates told the Horizon IT inquiry Sir Ed’s 2010 letter “appeared to be a standard template response.”

Davey Apologised for ‘Not Seeing Through the Lies’ in Post Office Scandal

Sir Ed told Sky News he was “sorry for not seeing through the lies” during his time as postal minister but said he was told lies on an, “industrial scale.”

Sir Ed said, “They (Post Office executives) must have lied to me, to previous ministers, to ministers after me, and they lied not just to the subpostmasters who were the victims of this, but to the courts, and the judges and the lawyers.”

“So this was lies on an industrial scale and why I actually support people who say that the people who are responsible for this must be held to account, and if that means them being taken to court and going to prison, so be it,” he added.

The Conservatives say waiting lists have been coming down since November 2023 and they have announced plans to boost community care by building 100 new GP surgeries and modernising another 150, and building 50 new community diagnostic centres.

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer told the Daily Mirror last month he would tackle the waiting list backlog in the NHS by sending “crack teams” into hospitals to help set up evening and weekend clinics.

The Conservatives, Labour and the Green Party are all due to launch their manifestos this week, as are the Welsh nationalist Plaid Cymru.

PA Media contributed to this report.