NHS should be 'winterproofed' with fund to stop yearly crisis, Ed Davey says (original) (raw)

The Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged the new government to 'make this year the last winter crisis in our NHS' as he delivered a keynote speech to the party's conference

Sir Ed Davey making his keynote speech at the Lib Dem conference

Ed Davey has called on Keir Starmer to set aside £1.5billion to make the NHS "winterpoof" and prevent it being hit by a yearly crisis.

With health chiefs already sounding the alarm over pressures, the Lib Dem leader urged the new government to "make this year the last winter crisis in our NHS". He also vowed to hold Labour to account in clearing up the mess left behind by the Tories in his first conference speech since the party's record-breaking election success.

Speaking in Brighton, he said: “Practically every year I can remember, governments have ended up announcing hundreds of millions of pounds of emergency funding to help the NHS through another winter crisis. To paper over the cracks. What if – instead of stumbling from crisis to crisis, instead of throwing more and more money at just plugging the gaps – we invested now, to make the NHS winterproof?" I urge Labour: do not make the same mistakes the Conservative Party did.

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"Be more positive. Act now. Show the ambition and urgency this moment demands – and save our NHS now.” According to the Lib Dems an average of £376million of emergency funding has been announced at the last minuted.

Instead, the party is calling for a new NHS taskforce to manage a ringfenced fund of £1.5billion over the next four years so the health service can plan their budgets. Addressing the party faithful, Sir Ed also made clear he would attempt to cut through the new government's "doom and gloom".

Just last month Mr Starmer braced the country for a "painful" Budget in October to plug a £22billion blackhole Labour say they have inherited. Sir Ed said: "The challenges we face cannot be solved by burying our heads in the sand and pretending they don’t exist – like the Conservatives do. But nor can they be solved with the pessimism and defeatism we’re hearing from Labour."

In a triumphant mood - fresh from unseating four Cabinet ministers and overturning massive Tory majorities - Sir Ed told delegates: "Please applaud yourselves."

But he added: "We can’t let them off the hook – after the chaos and misery they’ve caused. Our job is to consign the Conservative Party to the history books."