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Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has said he will press UK chancellor Rachel Reeves to use her Budget next month to raise taxes on banks, entrepreneurs and the wealthy to fund a transformation of Britain’s health and social care systems.
Davey closed his party conference in Brighton with a speech focused heavily on the NHS and the creaking social care system, themes that dominated the Lib Dems’ successful general election campaign.
Although the Lib Dems won most of their 72 seats in traditionally Conservative areas, Davey believes that big business and the wealthy should pay more taxes to fund better provision.
This week Davey said the wealthy should pay more in inheritance tax, while his spokesman confirmed the Lib Dems wanted to see higher taxes on banks, capital gains tax and share buybacks in the Budget on October 30.
The Lib Dem leader’s spokesman denied the party was heading off to the left, adding: “I don’t think focusing on the NHS is a left or right issue. I don’t think fairness is either.”
Davey’s position on business taxes could give Reeves some political cover as she contemplates “painful” decisions in her Budget to address what she claims is a £22bn fiscal hole.
The Lib Dems want to raise £4.3bn a year by reversing Conservative tax cuts for banks, while raising a further £5bn a year by reforming capital gains tax and £1.5bn with a 4 per cent tax on share buybacks.
Meanwhile, Davey surprised some of his own MPs this week when he told the BBC he would like to see inheritance tax reformed to “ensure the better-off pay more”.
“I think those people who aren’t inheriting huge amounts — and that money comes primarily from their property — they would see lower inheritance tax and you pay for that by ensuring that the better-off pay more.”
Davey’s central proposal in his speech to upbeat Lib Dem activists was to create a “Winterproof NHS Taskforce” to put an end to the annual winter crises in the health service.
He said this would allow integrated care boards and NHS Trusts to plan their budgets more efficiently to prevent winter crises, instead of relying on last minute emergency funding from government.
“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?” he asked.
Davey said his party would play a key role in pushing Sir Keir Starmer to be more ambitious when it came to fixing “our broken relationship with Europe”, including setting up a UK/EU youth mobility scheme.
The Lib Dems won a record number of Westminster seats at the election on July 4, contributing to the Conservative wipeout, but Davey said his party could continue the rout in next year’s county council elections in places such as Devon and Surrey. “Let’s finish the job,” he said.
The Lib Dem conference saw Davey continuing his stunt-heavy efforts to draw attention to his party, including riding on a jet ski and conducting an interview on a rollercoaster.
But he told Lib Dem activists he had to be restrained during the election campaign: “I’ll let you into a little secret. It was only health and safety rules that stopped me putting my hand up a cow’s behind or wing walking on a biplane.”
