The Lib Dems would tackle long GP waiting times plaguing Yorkshire - Ed Davey

We’ve made some fantastic progress across Yorkshire in recent years as people vote for Liberal Democrats to be their local champions. We took control of Hull Council and then made further progress there at last year’s local elections, showing we can win again in former Labour strongholds.

And we’ve made deep inroads into former true blue areas in North Yorkshire, with the Countess of Swinton Felicity Cunliffe-Lister elected as a Liberal Democrat councillor with a thumping majority right in Rishi Sunak’s backyard. Felicity is now standing as our brilliant candidate for the York and North Yorkshire mayoral election, fighting hard to deliver the fair deal people deserve.

But we know there is still much work to do to offer the change that people across the country are desperately crying out for. That is why Liberal Democrat activists are campaigning hard day in and day out, speaking to thousands of voters about our positive vision to fix the NHS, deliver a stronger economy and end years of chaos and neglect under this Conservative government.

No matter what the polls may say, this is no time for complacency. Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party have shown the depths they will stoop to, fanning the flames of division in a last-ditch attempt to cling on to power. Liberal Democrats know we have a duty to beat as many Conservative MPs as possible come the next election, so we can finally kick this out-of-touch government out of office.

More than anything else, Liberal Democrats know that winning elections starts with speaking to voters about the issues that matter most to them. And when I speak to voters on the doorsteps, the thing that comes up time and again is the state of the NHS.

One of the top issues here in Yorkshire is the appalling GP waits faced by so many people, particularly in rural communities. Being able to see a GP in good time is a crucial stepping stone to accessing NHS treatment. But far too often people are finding this front door to the NHS is locked.

This is borne out by official NHS figures which show Yorkshire has some of the worst-hit areas in the country when it comes to GP waiting times. The Vale of York saw a staggering 80 per cent increase in the number of people waiting four weeks or more for a GP appointment in 2023 compared to the previous year. North Yorkshire, the East Riding, Leeds and Sheffield are also all in top areas with the highest proportion of patients waiting a month or more to see their GP.

This GP wait times crisis is nothing short of a national scandal. The Conservative Party promised to hire more GPs in their 2019 manifesto. But like so many other Conservative promises, this has fallen on the scrap heap as the number of qualified full-time GPs has fallen under their watch. The Liberal Democrats have set out a clear plan to fix this mess,

giving everyone a legal right to see a GP in a week or 24 hours if urgent, delivered by recruiting and retaining 8,000 more GPs.

We know that tackling long GP wait times would not only give people peace of mind, it would fix so many of the other problems facing the NHS, preventing people from being forced to go to A&E just to see a doctor and ensuring more illnesses are caught early.

The other major issue raised by so many people on the doorsteps is the millions who are stuck on NHS waiting lists, despite Rishi Sunak’s promise to bring them down. We have all either personally experienced or known someone close who has been left waiting for months for hospital treatment, often in pain and discomfort.

This is not just causing untold personal suffering for those affected and their families, but it is damaging our economy too. Every person left unable to work while they wait for surgery means less growth for our economy.

It couldn’t be clearer that to fix the economy, we must fix the NHS and care. But instead of a clear long-term plan to fix this NHS crisis in the Budget last week, all we saw was yet more sticking plaster solutions. There was nothing there for GPs, no clear plan to cut NHS waiting lists, and no mention at all of social care. This wilful neglect of the health crisis facing the country showed this Conservative government is totally out of touch and deserves to be kicked out of office.

People know that in seats across the country, the choice at the next election will be between an out-of-touch Conservative MP or a hard-working Liberal Democrat one standing up for local health services.

Ed Davey is the leader of the Liberal Democrats.