Lib Dems hint at possible coalition with Labour to block Reform and Farage, Davey says

Ed Davey today dropped a major hint that he is prepared to prop up Labour after the next election to keep Reform out of power. The Liberal Democrat leader vowed he 'will' go into government, hopefully leading 'huge numbers' of his party's MPs, in an interview at its annual conference in Bournemouth. He said there is a moral duty to keep Nigel Farage's Reform out of government, arguing that other outcomes could threaten liberal values and Britain's international standing.

Davey said the Lib Dems could win 'way more' than 100 seats at the next election and insisted there is 'no ceiling on our ambitions'. He spoke of building a broad pro-democracy coalition and said the best way to secure a change of government is to avoid hubris or boastfulness. Separately, he told BBC Radio 5 Live: 'I would go into government, right? Let me say that.' Asked about a Lib-Lab pact, he added: 'Listen, I will go into the government, hopefully with huge numbers of Liberal Democrat MPs.'

Sky News quoted Davey as stressing that a pact with Reform is not on the table: 'That is not going to happen ... no one would expect me to do that and I don't want to do it, and we won't do it.' The question of a Lib-Lab coalition remains sensitive within the Liberal Democrats, whose activists still sing a now notorious song about Tony Blair at conference. It took the party 15 years and a collapse in the Tory vote to recover from entering the 2010 coalition under Nick Clegg.

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 raised their hands to indicate they would approve of a Lib-Lab pact. Calum Miller, the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman, did not rule out a coalition but told reporters: 'Voters in my constituency voted for me as a Liberal Democrat and clearly voted for my party and not the Labour party. At the next election I will be making the case to them as to why they should be returning me to Parliament.'

Davey told the BBC's Today programme that voters at the next election will face a choice between 'a change to Trump's America with Reform' or change based on 'true British values' with the Liberal Democrats. The remarks underscore the party's pivot toward potential post-election arrangements while signaling a readiness to expand its influence beyond a simple opposition role.

The development places Lib Dem leadership at a crossroads about alliances after an election that could hinge on seat gains far beyond the 100-seat target. The party’s past offers a cautionary tale: after entering government in 2010, it took years to recover amid internal and external backlash. In Bournemouth, the tension between ambition and caution was evident as activists weighed the implications of any possible arrangement with Labour and the potential cost to the party's core values.

Farage’s Reform party remains ahead in some polls, heightening concern among opponents about the electoral landscape ahead of the next vote. Lib Dems face a delicate balance of pursuing influence in government while staying true to their platform on fiscal responsibility, reform, and international cooperation.