Sir Ed Davey has declined to say whether he would join a coalition with Labour after the next election if it meant preventing a Reform UK government.
The party leader has said during the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth that he believes there is a moral duty to keep Nigel Farage’s party out of government.
But asked repeatedly by the BBC whether this meant he would consider entering into a coalition with Sir Keir Starmer’s party, the Lib Dem leader did not give a clear answer.
He told the BBC’s Today programme: “My moral responsibility as the leader of a party that has particular values is to speak up for those values and champion those values.
“And at the moment, we’re the only party championing those values.
“I’ve been deeply disappointed by the Labour Government. I think they’ve failed so many people – pensioners, disabled people, small businesses, large businesses, the farmers.
“We need a voice that is offering real change and real hope for our country with a proper economic policy, rebuilding our relationship with Europe.”
Asked whether he would rule out a coalition, he said: “What I want to do is make sure we have as many Liberal Democrat seats and Liberal Democrat votes at the next election.
“And by the way, we’re on track because we got our best result for over 100 years.”
The notion of going into government with Labour did not seem popular with Lib Dem members at the conference.
Asked to take part in a straw poll on the question during a Q&A with Sir Ed on Sunday, only a fraction of those in the audience put their hand up to say they would approve of a Lib-Lab coalition.
Sir Ed also continued his spat with tech boss Elon Musk as he took to the airwaves.
The Liberal Democrat leader told the BBC: “We think there is clear evidence that he and his company have broken the law.”
He said: “When he took it over, he got rid of teams who were there to protect our children, who were there to enforce the rules, and what’s happened on X, and I’m afraid it really is important people understand this, we’re seeing adverts for videos of child sexual abuse.”
Sir Ed has also called for Parliament to haul in the billionaire to answer for his “fight back” or “die” comments at the Unite the Kingdom rally, organised by right-wing activist Tommy Robinson last weekend.
On Sunday night, former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg gave the nod of approval to Sir Ed’s robust criticism of Mr Musk.
Sir Nick, who was the Lib Dem leader who took the party into power in the 2010-15 coalition government, told a fringe event at the conference: “Musk turning up on those screens in Whitehall, I thought, getting quite close to fomenting violence, is an outrageous intrusion into our sovereignty.”
The Lib Dems will set out their plans to bolster the protection of children online on Monday.
The party’s science and technology spokesperson, Victoria Collins, will say cigarette-style health warnings should be placed on social media apps to protect children from harm.
In a drive to make the internet safer for young people, the party also wants to introduce a “doomscrolling cap” – which would prevent their social media feeds from endlessly providing new content.
