Ed Davey has accused Reform UK and the Conservatives of importing “Trump-style divisive politics” as he launched the Liberal Democrats’ 7 May local elections campaign, promising the party would focus on “fixing things for your community”.
He also raised concerns that energy bill support being considered by the UK government would not include people on middle incomes who he said are being “hammered” by price rises caused by the war on Iran.
Davey’s party is hoping to build on its success last year when it beat the Conservatives into third place by winning more than 160 new seats, which were taken almost entirely at their expense.
Lib Dem candidates are to focus on tested issues, including cleaning up local rivers polluted by sewage. The other two main planks of their platform for the 7 May election are on improving local health services and cutting energy bills and
Calling for a “targeted” government response to those struggling with energy bills, Davey said he was worried Labour was not thinking about people on middle and modest incomes who would struggle with a potential £500 rise in energy bills on top of a rise in mortgage costs and petrol price rises.
“So the government’s got to think more widely. Yet no one wants the richest people to get money that they need, and that was a big mistake of Liz Truss, who wasted a lot of money,” he added.
At the party’s launch event in the village of East Horsley, Surrey, Davey opened his speech by saying the Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, had once dismissed the Lib Dems as the sort of people who fix the church roof. While she had meant it as a sneer, he said he embraced the description.
“Some politicians are too busy pointing the finger of blame rather than rolling up their sleeves and getting things done,” he said. “They want to import Trump-style divisive politics into our communities.”
“We don’t do division. We do potholes, police officers, GP appointments, clean rivers. If you vote Liberal Democrat on 7 May, you’ll get a local champion who will be fixing things for your community.”
Community politics meant “doing the hard work that actually makes people’s lives better”, the Lib Dem leader said.
“Getting people the GP and dentist appointments they need, standing up to the water companies pouring filthy sewage in our rivers, bringing back life to our high streets and helping people with the cost of living.”
The party said the local elections campaign was focused on five policies, which included a plan to halve energy bills within a decade, which it said would save households an average of £870 a year.
The others are a guarantee on the right to see a GP within seven days, support for high streets by cutting VAT for hospitality businesses, a ban on water companies dumping raw sewage and ensuring “visible” local policing.
New polling from YouGov released on Tuesday put the Lib Dems on 13% – a 1% drop and the joint-lowest this parliament – when it came to Westminster voting intentions.
However, Davey’s party now runs more councils than the Conservatives and is expecting further breakthroughs in May, which would mark a record eighth set of successful local election gains.
