We'll stop Farage turning UK into Trump's America, says Davey

Sir Ed Davey has vowed to lead the fight against Nigel Farage's Reform UK, as he accused him of wanting to turn the UK into "Trump's America" in a speech to the Liberal Democrat conference.

Painting a nightmarish vision of what he claimed life would be like under a Farage government, he sought to portray the Lib Dems as the guardians of British values of "tolerance, decency, and respect".

He argued that the Lib Dems had a "moral responsibility" to challenge Reform and urged his party to embrace patriotism to speak for "Britain's decent silent majority".

He attacked Labour for not delivering the change people had voted for - and urged Conservatives to "come and join us".

But in a 49 minute speech delivered without notes, he mentioned Farage 31 times and repeatedly claimed the Reform leader wanted to turn Britain into a "Trump-inspired country".

He accused Farage of wanting to saddle Britons with "crippling" health insurance bills and destroy the countryside by fracking for shale oil - and trample on basic rights by pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights.

"That is Trump's America. Don't let it become Farage's Britain," he told the conference.

He also stepped up his attacks on tech mogul Elon Musk, the owner of X, whom he said wanted to see a "Wild West on social media" and would benefit from Reform's plans to repeal online safety laws passed two years ago.

And in a striking image, he claimed Farage would relax British gun laws, forcing schools to teach children "what to do in case of a mass shooting".

A spokesman for Sir Ed said it was a reference to remarks Farage made in 2014, as leader of UKIP, when he had criticised "kneejerk" restrictions on handguns imposed after the 1996 Dunblane massacre.

But a Reform source accused the Lib Dem leader of "spouting total madness" and said the party had no plans to change gun laws in the UK should it win power.

Following his party's success at last year's election, when it won 72 MPs after picking up a swathe of Tory-led seats, Sir Ed set out a target to overtake the Conservatives at the next general election, which must take place by 2029.

The speech was light on policy detail, with Sir Ed instead trying to frame the next election as a "battle of ideas for the future of our country".

Evoking a land of "county shows and school fairs; fish and chips; village greens and cricket pavilions", he depicted the Lib Dems as the natural home for "One Nation conservatives" who rejected the "divisive" direction Kemi Badenoch has taken as Tory leader.

He lauded Britain as "the place Hollywood comes to make Barbie, Spider-Man and Mission Impossible, the land of the Lionesses and the home of Formula One", and the land of "Windermere and Loch Ness, male voice choirs and Hogmanay".

Attacking Reform's recently-announced plans to deport hundreds of thousands of migrants as unpatriotic, he argued that sending Afghans asylum seekers back to face the Taliban "isn't who we are".

Repeatedly referring to Britain as a "caring country", he added: "We are a nation that believes in tolerance, decency, and respect for both individual freedom and the rule of law".

He also called on the UK government to offer discounted visas to US cancer scientists who had lost funding under the Trump administration's "anti-science agenda".

Sir Ed devoted a section of his speech to attacking Labour, telling the conference the party was "looking more and more like Continuity Sunak" - a reference to the Tory leader defeated at last year's election.

Sir Ed said his party would do a better job of growing the economy by negotiating a "new customs union" with the European Union.

He also welcomed Sir Keir Starmer's decision over the weekend to recognise a Palestinian state, adding his party had "led the charge" in urging the diplomatic move for almost a decade.

He accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, adding it was important to "call it by its name". Israel has strongly denied genocide allegations, which are also being examined by the International Court of Justice.

He also complained that Farage gets an "easy ride from the media" and too much coverage on the BBC.

In response, the corporation said Davey's "continuing attacks on BBC journalism are completely groundless".

"It is simply false to say that we give any political party any less scrutiny than another," the corporation added.