Overview

• Davey warned a Reform government would mirror US-style populism, alleging it could roll back gun laws and imperil the NHS, and he repeatedly linked Nigel Farage to Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Elon Musk.
• He declined to rule out a post‑election deal with Labour if required to stop Reform forming a government, while stressing his focus on maximizing Liberal Democrat seats.
• Reform rejected claims about relaxing firearms rules as “madness,” noting it has no such policy, though Farage previously criticised the post‑Dunblane handgun ban in 2014 as UKIP leader.
• The Lib Dem leader set a target to win more seats than the Conservatives at the next election and appealed to moderate Tory voters and MPs to switch to his party.
• Conference proposals included tougher online child‑safety measures such as cigarette‑style warnings and a ‘doomscrolling cap,’ a windfall tax on banks to fund home energy upgrades, and plans to attract US cancer researchers, all set against polling that shows Reform leading in some surveys.