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Lib Dems to target Tory votes at next election, Davey says at party conference
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey (centre) arrives with Daisy Cooper (front left), Layla Moran (front right) and parliamentary candidates for the Liberal Democrat conference at the Bournemouth Conference Centre, September 26, 2023

LIBERAL DEMOCRAT leader Ed Davey told his party today to target Tory voters at the next general election in the hope that it could hold the balance of power in a hung parliament.

Speaking to the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth, he focused on challenging the government’s record on the NHS — drawing on family stories to emphasise failings in the treatment of cancer — and climate change.

Mr Davey has sought to make his party acceptable to voters who have previously backed the Tories by dropping proposals for a small tax increase and soft-pedalling its strong opposition to Brexit, although his pledge to “fix our broken relationship with Europe” won the loudest conference applause.

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