Eight insights from the Liberal Democrat conference

Energy security for small businesses, public perceptions of the NHS waiting list, and the importance of preventative healthcare were on the agenda at the Liberal Democrat Conference, which took place Saturday 20 to Tuesday 23 September in Bournemouth.

Here, OT rounds up the key insights from the main stage, the conference fringe, and the exhibition hall.

1 Making energy cheaper for small businesses

The second day of the Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference began with a pledge from deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, to develop an “energy security bank” for small businesses and households, funded via a windfall tax on the big banks.

The climate was a strong theme across the conference, and Cooper voiced her party’s desire to make it easier for businesses to benefit from energy saving schemes, which she said currently suffer from low uptake because costs are “stubbornly high.”

Commercial loan rates are too high to allow small and medium sized businesses to invest in things like solar panels or heat pumps, Cooper said.

There is a gap in the middle, between “government schemes to create warm homes for council tenants and homeowners on low incomes” and investment for big infrastructure projects such as wind farms, Cooper believes.

To plug this gap, the Liberal Democrats are suggesting an energy security bank, which would free up to £10 billion in affordable loans.

In practice, this would mean loans of up to £50,000 for small and medium-sized enterprises, or up to £20,000 for homeowners.

“Households and small businesses would finally see change in their homes, in their High Streets, and in their tax balances,” Cooper said.

“Our plan for an energy security bank will deliver investment in the real economy – investment that will generate growth, create jobs, and provide countless households and small businesses with the energy security that they crave,” Cooper said.

OT

Deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, Daisy Cooper, announcing plans for an energy security bank on stage at the party’s Autumn Conference

2 A skewed perception of the NHS waiting list

There have been “tentative shifts” forward in the public’s perception of the NHS, but people are still more likely to believe that waiting lists have increased rather than decreased, attendees to the Health Foundation’s Building a healthier UK fringe event were told.

Over a third (37%) of people believe waiting lists have increased, versus 24% who think they have decreased, according to Ipsos and Health Foundation research that was cited during the event.

On the whole, Liberal Democrat voters are likely to be positive about waiting lists, the research revealed.

Kate Duxbury, research director at Ipsos, noted that it often takes a significant amount of time for reductions in waiting lists to filter through to the public.

It took until 2009 for the public to have a positive view of waiting lists, despite the numbers decreasing through Labour’s first term in office after their election win in 1997, Duxbury said.

3 Differing priorities when it comes to healthcare

The number one priority for the public when it comes to healthcare is GP waiting times, the Ipsos research revealed.

Conservative and Reform voters are also particularly interested in better connections between NHS services.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats are disappointed that there isn’t more of a focus on social care within Labour’s 10-Year Health Plan.

Without a focus on social care, other health reforms are akin to “pouring water into a leaky bucket,” Liberal Democrat MP and mental health spokesperson, Danny Chambers, said.

Chambers also raised concerns about patients presenting at A&E with conditions that he believes should be treated in primary care.

A&E is the most expensive place to treat conditions such as dental abscesses, he said.

4 A shared aim for care in the community

Tim Gardner, assistant director of policy at the Health Foundation, voiced his organisation’s support for “community-based, rather than hospital-based services” during the Building a healthier UK fringe event.

The Liberal Democrats are in support of moving treatment out into communities too, Chambers confirmed.

He used the example of people attending A&E with dental abscesses because they are unable to see an NHS dentist.

“We’re paying for it by giving people general anaesthetics to have teeth removed, which they wouldn’t need if they could just get a dental check-up, which would cost NHS less than £40,” Chambers said.

“All our interventions are about saving the NHS money: reforming it in a way that would save money, but that would also provide better patient care – keeping people healthy, keeping them in the community, and getting people out of hospital and cared for in the community or at home, in the most appropriate place, with better social care packages,” he added.

5 More detail on analogue to digital needed

Gardner called Labour’s desire for a focus on technology within healthcare “bold,” and agreed that making better use of artificial intelligence for prevention was a good idea.

“Doing more to coordinate services around health needs, again, [is] completely in tune with the public,” Gardner said.

He questioned, however, what more might be needed to make the analogue to digital shift that the Government is promising a reality, and whether there is anything really new in the plans.

He noted that “we have seen them multiple times before, in some cases going back to when Labour was previously in government; in some cases, even earlier.”

“I think there have to be questions on what is going to be different this time. What is going to actually make some of their shifts happen?” Gardner said.

There is not enough detail included in the 10-Year Health Plan, Gardner believes.

“It’s not entirely clear whether there is enough resource behind those shifts to make them happen, or enough detail about how to bring them about,” he said.

He added: “It’s also worth highlighting that, despite Labour’s 10-Year Health Plan being called the 10 -Year Health Plan, it’s a plan for the NHS. It is not a plan for improving the nation’s health. It’s not a plan from addressing deeply unfair health inequalities in our country.”

6 Funding for the shift to community care remains unconfirmed

After an audience question querying why there are job shortages for physiotherapists and GPs despite high numbers of people qualifying, Gardner noted that there is currently proportionally less funding going into community health services than there has been in the past – despite it being more expensive to treat conditions that could be being treated in the community in the hospital setting.

“While we have seen more of the NHS budget going into hospitals, that means that there is proportionally less going into community health services, which are doing a lot of the things that either keep us healthy, help us recover and not need hospital, or help us recover once we’ve been through hospital,” Gardner said.

The Health Foundation wanted to see how much of the NHS budget would be allocated to community healthcare in the 10-Year Health Plan, Gardner said, but it was not included.

Labour’s promised community health centres will only work if the resource is there to support them, he warned.

7 “Building blocks” are needed to create a healthy population

The Government’s aim of prevention rather than treatment was a key theme of the conference, with exhibitors pushing the message forward too.

Health Equals is a campaign aimed at tackling health inequalities that are caused by avoidable differences in living standards in the UK.

“Prevention is important, because it’s really about shaping the society that enables us all to live in good health,” Ruth Lowe, policy and engagement manager at Health Equals, told OT.

This includes factors like toxic air, cold or mouldy homes, and insecure work, all of which are making people unhealthy, Lowe said.

"In effect, they are creating more demand for health services. What we really need is to bolster those building blocks and make sure everybody has the right opportunity for good health.”

8 No ice-skating for Ed

In his leader Q&A session, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey set out a version of politics that might be more positive than much of what has been seen elsewhere.

When asked if it was time to “retire the stunts” [Davey was photographed paddleboarding and bungee jumping whilst campaigning ahead of 2024’s General Election], he answered that it is very possible “to not take yourself seriously, whilst taking people’s concerns very seriously.”

“Making people smile, I think, is the way to win people over,” Davey said.

He admitted to a fear of ice-skating, before revealing that he isn’t sure whether he has been invited to compete in Strictly Come Dancing (“if I have, the letter hasn’t reached my desk.”)

The importance of showing emotion around what people are feeling is important and was a strong reason why he and his wife made the difficult decision to create a video around social care featuring their disabled son ahead of the General Election, Davey said.

He then refused to be drawn on whether he would enter into a coalition with the Labour Party in order to keep Reform out of Government, instead encouraging the audience to attend Nick Clegg’s evening fringe event.

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