Wendy Chamberlain tells Lib Dems: we will be the “Party of the NHS and care”

EMBARGO: Immediate Release

Today, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip, Wendy Chamberlain delivered a keynote speech at Lib Dem Autumn Conference. In it, she said that the Party would be the “Party of NHS and care” as she set out the Lib Dems top priority over the next Parliament.

Full text of Wendy Chamberlain MP’s speech:

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Hello everybody and welcome to Conference!

It is so good to see lots of familiar faces, but a lot of new ones too. And I’m not just talking about my new MP colleagues!

For those of you present at my keynote speech last year, you may have remembered a certain bar-chart (we love a bar chart).

That’s right - the one with just two votes in it. 

That was the result in my constituency, North East Fife, in 2017. A disappointing night for Liberal Democrats across the country - and particularly painful for us in Fife. 

Then, after 2019, it wasn't two votes in it - but 1,300. When I became the newly elected Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for North East Fife. 

We got it over the line - thanks to a great deal of hard work. But even for us, celebrating our result, we were commiserating such a difficult night for Liberal Democrats across the whole of the UK. 

In 2024, however, it was a different story. 

That bar-chart that just a few years ago had two votes in it. 

That as of just a couple of months ago had the SNP holding North East Fife on the basis of the constituencies boundaries. 

Now has 13,500 votes in it - maybe not so helpful for that future squeeze vote!

So: Willie Rennie and Ming Campbell, eat your hearts out. You may be able to run further and faster than me. But when it comes to running in North East Fife, I think we know who the best performing Liberal Democrat is. 

And Conference, I am so humbled to have been given the opportunity to serve the communities of North East Fife in Parliament for a second term. 

Being the MP for NEF is such a privilege. It’s home to so much: world renowned artists, whisky and gin distilleries, and historic communities such as the fishing communities of the East Neuk, the post industrial  area of Levenmouth, and the breadbasket of Fife - the Howe. 

During the summer I finally got to visit  my constituents the puffins on the Isle of May - we’re campaigning on sand eels fishing, don’t you know? 

I experienced the ‘grass to grill’ tour at Balcaskie estate, seeing cows graze freely in woodland, followed by a visit to the Pittenweem Arts Festival which is increasingly renowned. 

It is the honour of my life to be their local champion in Westminster. 

And I’m not the only one. 

It wasn’t so much a case of Liberal Democrats, winning here. As it was Liberal Democrats, winning everywhere. 

We won in Wales. 

We won back the West Country. 

We broke new ground in the Home Counties. 

72 Liberal Democrat local champions, elected by their constituents, and who are already working day-in, day-out, fighting for their communities. 

But it would be remiss of me not to mention part of the result that was particularly dear to my heart.

And that was our success in Scotland. 

Returning my three Scottish colleagues with increased majorities.

Susan Murray winning back Mid Dunbartonshire. 

And we even managed to sneak in a couple of extra Scots in English constituencies. Calum Miller, in Bicester. And in Surrey Heath - formerly represented by Michael Gove - we swapped a Scottish Conservative for a Scottish Liberal Democrat. And Al, if the similarities to your predecessor don’t end there, then expect you to be strutting your stuff at the Lib Dem Disco later tonight! 

And Conference, what a special moment it was when the last result to be declared across the whole of the UK, was the Liberal Democrats winning back Charles Kennedy’s old seat - well done, Angus.

I’m sure Charles would have been proud of us all for what we achieved on that historic night in July.

And just as we did our bit across the UK to deliver a decisive blow to an out-of-touch and out-of-time Conservative Government. 

So too did we play our part in beating the SNP.

Now I’m not going to stand here and gloat about the demise of the SNP. But I do think there is a lesson for everyone in politics about whathappens if you take voters for granted. 

I’m not sure the SNP had that sense of entitlement a decade ago. 

But over recent years they have used their position on the green benches in Westminster not to work to improve things, but grandstand.

And they used their positions of power in the Scottish Government not to deliver, but to overpromise.

No wonder so many former SNP voters that I spoke to during the campaign were utterly disillusioned with the party.

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrats were out there offering positive solutions. 

Of course, on solutions to the constitutional question, I’ve said it before - it’s not that I disagree with the SNP on the diagnosis, it’s that I disagree with them on the cure. And our Liberal Democrat vision of political reform, of fair votes and of a fair federal union, is about making things work, not tearing things down. 

And as we approach ten years since the independence referendum in Scotland, it’s clear - both from the recent Sturgeon/Salmond documentary - and from the recent SNP manifesto: just look at page 1, line 1 of that - that they have failed to take on board the message that the people of Scotland have clearly delivered to them. 

The SNP have pursued a decade of division. A decade which has failed. And the cost of that has been borne by the people of Scotland. 

Meanwhile, we have listened. We have earned back that trust. And we have made the priorities of ordinary people our priorities:

The state of the NHS in Scotland. 

The sewage that the SNP has allowed to be dumped into our rivers and coastal areas. 

The education of our children, which the SNP Government has neglected and allowed to decline.

And we have made clear that if you put your trust in Scottish Liberal Democrats, then we will repay it. We will stand up for your communities. 

Just as Willie Rennie has been standing up for our schools. He has been assiduous in his role on the Education Committee in holding the Scottish Government to account. 

Or Alex Cole-Hamilton: calling out the disgrace that is NHS dentistry in Scotland. Where whole swathes of the country have become ‘dental deserts’. 

And my colleagues from the Highlands and Islands - Jamie, for instance, has been standing up for his constituents, who have to drive hundreds of miles to access maternity services.

As the new chair of the DEFRA Select Committee - congratulations Alistair, by the way - said this week - the SNP and Labour don’t know how to stand up for our rural communities. But the Liberal Democrats do. 

Our message, of listening to communities, resonated deeply at this election. 

Scottish Liberal Democrats had our best result since 2010, under Alex Cole-Hamilton’s leadership. I’ve been so proud to serve the Scottish Party as his deputy. 

And, Conference, we have the chance to repeat this success coming soon. 

2026 is less than two years away.

We have a chance to kick the SNP out of power for the first time in nearly twenty years. 

It’s time for a change in Scotland. And Scottish Liberal Democrats are part of that change.

Now when it came to our campaign in North East Fife, it became clear that we were the only ones working. 

My existing parts of the constituency were used to hearing from the local Lib Dem team. 

But the communities of Kennoway, Windygates and the rest of Leven, hearing regularly from a political party outside of election time was a new experience. We’ve created that expectation and we will continue to deliver to it. 

Of course, one of the benefits of our historic General Election result is that we have returned to our former position of Third Party in the House of Commons. 

And frankly Conference we aim to take a very different approach to the SNP.

I think what people want to see is Members of Parliament working together to try and secure a fair deal for the whole of the UK - not trying to divide us. 

Being the third party is a big responsibility. We have a far greater ability to affect change now than we did in the previous Parliament. 

We want to be a constructive opposition. We want to be local champions. We want to do things differently. 

It’s great to have the opportunity to vote on a regular basis for Liberal Democrat amendments - and we look forward to our first opposition day debate, where we control the Parliamentary timetable, in just a few weeks’ time. 

Part of what we’ll also be doing is looking at how Parliament itself works.

Our Parliament gives a special platform for the largest opposition party, over and above the third party.

But the election result raises questions about whether that is the fairest way forward. 

After all, in the past hundred years the gap between the second party and the third party has never been smaller. For every 3 Conservative MPs, there are now 2 Liberal Democrats. 

If you’ll indulge my inner politics geek, we are in what the Hansard Society has described as a “multipolar Parliament”. 

And that respected organisation has floated changes that could be introduced in Parliament to reflect the new electoral reality - for a start, opposition days and Questions to the Prime Minister distributed more equally.

We have an opportunity to make Parliament work for the better. That’s a good thing in and of itself - but if we get it right, and Parliament makes better decisions, then it has a positive impact on people’s lives too.

As Chief Whip, I’ll be leading the charge to secure those changes.

And I, along with Marie Goldman, will be members of the new Modernisation Committee. 

And one of the first proposals we’re considering? 

Looking at reviewing second jobs rules - it’s been suggested that this might include examining whether MPs should really be moonlighting as TV presenters. Watch out, Nigel! 

And when it comes to my flock of 71 MPs, I am fortunate enough to come from a family of keen shinty players. 

In fact, I now have my Dad’s silver capped caman up on the wall in my new office! 

And I’ll be using it - metaphorically, not literally - to ensure that it is Liberal Democrat MPs who are getting things done. Who are delivering for their communities. 

Conference, during the Election campaign, when I was doing interviews on the telly sometimes I’d get asked: what’s the point of getting a Lib Dem elected - they’re not going to form the next government, are they? 

And to that I say this: 

Never take voters for granted. And never lose sight of what matters.

The Conservatives year after year chose chaos and confrontation over listening to what matters to communities. 

And just look at the result: the neglect of the National Health Service. 

The Conservative Government in Westminster utterly broke the NHS. 

We’ve seen the report - just this week. It is scathing. 

And I must say, the SNP Government in Edinburgh has been just as bad. Despite higher per-head funding.

That’s why the Liberal Democrats are the party of the NHS and care in every part of Britain.

The out-of-touch Conservative Party who allowed hospitals to crumble and waiting lists to soar, can never be trusted with the NHS. 

Nowadays, the 8am scramble to see a GP is even harder than getting an Oasis ticket.

We cannot go on like this. 

So Liberal Democrats, in the House of Commons, will stand up for health. We will stand up for our communities. 

And our ambitions do not end there. 

Because I’ve had the privilege over the past five years to deliver real change in Parliament. 

Be it delivering changes for my constituents: 

• like helping to source the Scottish Deer Centre a new owner when it was at risk of closure during Covid. 

• And working on a cross party basis to support the Linden Norgrove foundation in ensuring 19 Afghan female medical students can come to Scotland to study and it was my pleasure to meet them in the Scotland Office in Edinburgh just a few short weeks ago. 

And also delivering changes to the law. 

It was my Bill - and now Act - the Carer’s Leave Act 2023, that gave carers the right to take unpaid leave. 

The day that Bill became law was one of the proudest moments of my life. Because of the tangible impact that it would have to so many of my constituents, and so many people across the country. 

And I’m delighted to again have that opportunity after having been successful in the Private Members’ Ballot last week. 

And to be joined by three other Liberal Democrat MPs - Max, Danny and Roz. Watch this space.

You see, if changing the law is something I could do - as one of just 15 Liberal Democrat MPs;

When we were the fourth party, consigned to the very back benches of the Commons chamber and shut-out by the standing orders.

Then just imagine - 

With our new third party status.

Just how many things Liberal Democrats can and will deliver this Parliament. 

With 72 local champions. 

Delivering for their communities. 

And delivering for the country. 

I can’t wait to come back to Conference again and again this Parliament and hear how it is Liberal Democrats making the difference, and delivering that fair deal that their communities need. 

Thank you.

ENDS