26 September 2023 , 13:30
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Cancer patients should be given a legal right to begin treatment within two months, Ed Davey has demanded in a major speech.
The Liberal Democrat leader, who was orphaned after losing both of his parents to the disease, said his party would write the guarantee into law. In his conference speech in Bournemouth, Sir Ed said the public are "desperate for change" as he laid out his vision for the country ahead of next year's likely general election.
He took aim at the Tories' record on crime rates, court backlogs, crumbling schools and the NHS, as he told party members: "I have never known our country so badly governed". He said: "Britain isn't working, because the Conservatives aren't working. They're more like a bad soap opera than a functioning government".
Making improving cancer survival rates the centrepiece of his speech, Sir Ed said millions of lives are "turned upside down" by the disease. The Lib Dem leader lost his father, John, when he was just four-years-old, while his mother Nina passed away at 15 after being diagnosed with incurable cancer.
He said: "That was a tough period as a teenager. But of course it was much tougher for mum. Yet those years were also special. They gave me an incredible bond with my mum. "She was so strong, so resilient. Fighting to be with her boys, even in the face of such a cruel disease."
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Dedicating his speech to bereaved children, Sir Ed said his family's story "isn't unique", with millions of lives "turned upside down by cancer". And calling for a new legal right to receive treatment within 62 days, he said: "Far too many people are still waiting, far too long for a diagnosis or a start to treatment after being diagnosed.
"And I’m afraid to say, they’ve been let down and forgotten by this Conservative Government." According to party figures, over 70,000 people last year waited longer than the NHS target of 62 days to start treatment.
Sir Ed, who has been telling his candidates to prepare for the general election, also told members on Tuesday the vote "can't come quickly enough". He said: "People are desperate for change. And while Rishi Sunak clings on, out of touch and out of ideas, our job – our responsibility – is to show the British people that positive change is possible. And that we are ready to fight for it, whenever the election comes."
The party leader also said the Lib Dems had taken "chunks" out of the Blue Wall - former Tory strongholds in the rural south of England. He added: "We have made it start to crumble. Now let's smash it for good".
But it came after the Lib Dem leadership suffered an embarrassing blow on Monday with young activists in Bournemouth scuppering proposals to abandon national housing targets. Sir Ed is fearful of alienating voters in seats such as Mid-Bedfordshire where the party is hopeful of overturning a massive Tory majority next month.
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