Ed Davey: A general election is the only way out of this Conservative nightmare

Liz Truss’s resignation confirms a simple but devastating truth that’s been clear for a long time now: the Conservative government is not governing.

Conservative MPs are no longer even pretending to care about the multiple crises facing struggling families and pensioners across the UK. Food prices are soaring, energy bills have gone up even higher, and mortgages are rising fast.

Our NHS is on its knees. People are having to wait hours for an urgent ambulance, weeks to see a GP or a dentist, and months to start treatment for cancer. Meanwhile, water companies are getting away with pumping millions of tonnes of raw sewage straight into our rivers.

And what are the Conservatives doing about this? Nothing. They have no plan whatsoever. They long ago junked most of their manifesto from 2019, and Liz Truss binned everything she stood on in the leadership contest too, before binning the job completely.

In fact, the Tories have made it all worse: ending the energy price freeze early, adding hundreds of pounds to people’s mortgages and threatening to cut the NHS budget and tear up even more environmental protections.

The focus of the Conservatives is clear: it’s all about them. Instead of tackling these urgent issues, MPs squabble over who should get them next. Yet again, they’re putting their self-interest ahead of the national interest.

The British people are struggling right now. Millions of families and pensioners are facing a terrifying winter where they are forced to choose between heating and eating. They can’t afford more months of government chaos and inaction, while the Conservative Party fights amongst itself. They can’t afford to watch Conservative MPs install yet another disastrous and out-of-touch prime minister.

Because none of this started with Truss. The Conservatives have been mismanaging our economy, neglecting local health services and taking people for granted for years. Boris Johnson shattered the public’s trust in the government – but removing him hasn’t restored it. Far from it.

That’s why it can’t just be about changing a few faces at the top. Truss has gone. But so too should the rest of this appalling and out-of-touch Conservative government.

That’s why the Liberal Democrats are calling for a general election, right now. And when that election comes, we will give the British people the chance to vote a fair deal.

A fair deal that says you can afford a decent home in a safe, clean neighbourhood – with a comfortable retirement when the time comes. That your children can go to a good school, get a good job, and have real opportunities to fulfil their potential. That if anyone in your family is ill, frail or disabled, they can get the high-quality care they need.

That’s the fair deal the British people deserve, but it’s a deal that’s been shattered by this Conservative government.

That’s why more and more people are turning to the Liberal Democrats. They know we work hard for our communities, we hear their concerns, and we never take them for granted.

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here

It’s why so many people supported us in true-blue Buckinghamshire, North Shropshire and Devon – where we showed we are the party to beat the Conservatives across the blue wall.

We won those three historic by-election victories with the support of lifelong Conservative voters fed up with being taken for granted, and lifelong Labour voters who knew voting Liberal Democrat was the best way to get the Conservatives out. At the next election, we can win seats off the Conservatives right across the UK and finally put an end to this out-of-touch and incompetent government.

That’s why Conservative MPs are running scared of a general election. But it’s also why the country desperately needs one now.

Ed Davey is the leader of the Liberal Democrats