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Ed Davey Escalates Attack on Farage as Lib Dems Close Bournemouth Conference

The push positions the party as a bulwark against right‑wing populism with openness to Labour deals to keep Reform from power.

Overview

  • In his keynote, Davey said Farage wants to turn the UK into “Trump’s America”, alleging a Reform government would dismantle the NHS, relax gun laws and force schools to run mass‑shooting drills.
  • He warned that Reform’s plan to cancel indefinite leave to remain could trigger a Windrush‑style scandal and condemned proposals to quit the European Convention on Human Rights while attacking deportation rhetoric tied to Afghanistan.
  • Davey repeatedly linked Farage to Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Vladimir Putin, accused Musk of enabling online harms on X and urged tougher UK enforcement against social media platforms.
  • He refused to rule out a post‑election arrangement with Labour to block Reform, set a goal of surpassing the Conservatives in seats and leaned into a patriotic appeal to disaffected Tory voters.
  • Reform dismissed the speech as “total madness” and Farage mocked Davey, as polling cited in coverage shows Reform near 29–30% support versus roughly 15% for the Liberal Democrats, with commentators noting scant new policy detail.