Lib Dems pledge £8bn NHS and care package in manifesto

The Liberal Democrats have pledged an £8bn package for health and care services in England in their election manifesto.

At the launch of the party's plans, leader Sir Ed Davey spoke about the importance of carers, citing his own experience of being a carer for his disabled son and for his mother.

The party said its proposals for government would be funded by reversing tax cuts for banks and closing tax loopholes exploited by the wealthiest individuals.

The party's plans if it wins power include giving everyone the right to see a GP within seven days, as well as free personal care for older or disabled people at home.

Health is devolved so the pledges only cover England, with additional funding for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland coming on top of the £8.35bn.

During the election campaign the Lib Dem leader has insisted politicians should not take themselves too seriously.

So far Sir Ed has ridden a bike, toppled from a paddleboard, and donned his swimming trunks to career down a water slide on a rubber ring.

He struck a more earnest tone at the manifesto launch, For a Fair Deal, as he made a case that care work "has been in the shadows for far too long".

"The truth is unless we properly value care, unless we properly support carers, we will never be able to fix the crisis in our NHS or get our economy back on track," he told supporters.

"And that's why I'm so proud the Liberal Democrats have put health and care at the heart of our campaign in this general election, and at the heart of our manifesto too."

Explaining that he understood "how relentless" caring could be because of his own experience as a teenager, when he cared for his mother before she died of cancer, Sir Ed said his manifesto is the first in the party's history to include a dedicated chapter on care.

He said: "Like so many people my caring story started young, I was nine when my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer, my dad had died when I was four, taken from us just a few months after being diagnosed with a cancer called Hodgkin Lymphoma."

He added: "I never called myself a young carer, I never thought of myself that way, I was just looking after my mum, because she needed it and I loved her."

Sir Ed said his plan "to save the NHS" would unlock some of the biggest problems affecting the UK, by supporting more carers, freeing up hospital beds and investing in preventative health.

Unveiling the 116-page document to the tune of Abba's Take A Chance on Me, the Lib Dems hope this plan will be the key to challenging the Conservatives in the so-called "blue wall" areas of southern England that were once Tory strongholds.

The party is standing candidates in every seat in England, Wales and Scotland, and aim to improve on their 2019 election result, which saw 11 MPs elected.

Asked what serious impact Liberal Democrats can have on Westminster after the election, Sir Ed said: "Politicians should not take themselves too seriously, but we should take the interests of the British people seriously," adding he believed the manifesto delivers that.

"My experience in parliament is if you get lots of Liberal Democrat MPs you can make a huge difference," he said.

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The party plans to spend an extra £3.7bn a year on social care with three main pledges:

• Ensuring care workers are paid at least £2 above the minimum wage to help tackle vacancies

• A £20 per week increase to Carer's Allowance, which supports people looking after someone with an illness or disability for at least 35 hours a week

• Raising how much carers can earn in addition to caring duties to a minimum £183 a week and still receive the allowance, expected to cost an extra £1.4bn a year

Sir Ed visited a theme park after launching the manifesto

As he prepared to ride a leg-dangling rollercoaster at Thorpe Park, Sir Ed claimed Lib Dem proposals would tackle the country's problems.

Sir Ed said the party would not raise income tax, national insurance or VAT, saying that struggling families should not bear the brunt of the continuing cost of living crisis.

Instead, he claimed he could raise £5bn by closing a Capital Gains Tax loophole and making the richest 0.1% pay more, and another £4.25bn by increasing levies on banks.

There is an eye-catching plan for a new aviation tax, looking to raise £3.6bn by penalising frequent fliers, alongside a super-tax on private jet flights, which could net £380m.

Another pledge to crack down on tax avoidance, like Labour and the Tories, is boosted by a claim that investing £1bn in HMRC will allow them to raise more money, valued at £7.2bn.

Other policies in the manifesto include:

• Plans to overhaul the water industry and tackle sewage pollution

• A dedicated mental health professional in every primary and secondary school

• A guarantee that all domestic burglaries would be attended by police and properly investigated.