Ed Davey rebuilds stiles and enjoys glass of wine during Sussex visit

The Liberal Democrat leader left Brighton, where his party’s autumn conference is being held, for Ditchling village, where he helped to replace a stile with The Monday Group.

He helped volunteers from the organisation, which helps maintain footpaths in Sussex, dig out the old, wooden structure.

Howard Corney, the landowner, offered Sir Ed, wearing a red zip-neck jumper and wellies, a glass of wine from his and his wife Jenny’s nearby vineyard, after the volunteers had put him to work.

“It would be wrong not to have a small glass when you deserve it,” Mr Corney said.

Sir Ed then climbed Oldland Windmill, a restored 18th-century mill near Hassocks, with members of the media.

It has been a very busy few days for the politician, who arrived at Brighton Marina on a jet ski on Saturday for the conference’s start.

And on Sunday, he played volleyball on Brighton beach with young people involved with the Carers Centre for Brighton and Hove.

Sir Ed Davey with members of The Monday Group and Alison Bennett, Mid Sussex MP, help replace a stile in Ditchling (Image: Will Durrant/PA)

Back at the conference at Brighton Centre this morning, Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper told party members that when she took up her role the party was in “survival mode”.

Recalling a “sobering” conversation she had with leader Sir Ed Davey in 2020, she told the party’s autumn conference: “Back in 2020 just after I became deputy leader, I remember one of my very first conversations with Ed, and it was quite sobering.

“He said to me Daisy, we both know we’ve only got 11 MPs, but when you add up our majorities, do you know how few votes stand between us and extinction? Our majorities add up to 69,664 votes.

“If we lose just half of those votes to the Tories, we will be wiped out.

 “Until now, I haven’t shared that conversation with a single living soul. Why? We didn’t want anybody to know that we were in survival mode.”

Sir Ed enjoyed a glass of wine after his hard work (Image: Will Durrant/PA) During a keynote speech, Ms Cooper said she had a message for Labour.

She told Labour that if the Lib Dems do not see “the right level of ambition” from the government on health, the party will “hold your feet to the fire”.

Addressing Health Secretary Wes Streeting, she said: “Take up our ideas or put forward your own, and if we support them, we’ll back them. But if we do not see the right level of ambition or urgency, we will hold your feet to the fire.”

Earlier in the speech, she had said the Lib Dems “must keep taking the fight to the Tories”.

She said: “The Conservatives promised that the NHS was safe in their hands, but they have brought it to its knees.

“We must keep their hands off it, we must keep taking the fight to the Tories, we must finish the job.”