Lib Dem leader Ed Davey reaches out to Tory voters appalled by tax hikes and vaccine passports

Sir Ed Davey has made an appeal to Tory voters concerned that Boris Johnson's party has turned its back on civil liberties and low taxation.

Speaking to GB News, the Liberal Democrat leader said "This Conservative government under Boris Johnson has breached so many aspects of civil liberties, yes Covid vaccine passports - ID cards, whatever anyone wants to call them - but they are also trampling on the traditional rights of British people to protest and to assembly."

"So certainly when it comes to civil liberties and freedom, traditional British values, Liberal Democrats are championing them, and Conservatives are treading all over them."

Responding to the news that this government will preside over the largest tax burden since the War, Davey echoed David Cameron's drive for a 'big society' in the place of a big state - championing for example family carers who he claimed "save the taxpayer nearly £200 billion a year".

Asked whether he is concerned about the expanding size and scope of the state, Sir Ed Davey replied that "one has to look at that carefully. No one wants to see taxes rise, but if they do they have to be much fairer than the government's proposals, and we need to see if we can reform things so that they work as efficiently as possible."

With a bombshell poll finding the Conservatives have plummeted by five points today and the Liberal Democrats have risen back up to double figures, Davey's pitch to low tax, small state Tory voters has the potential to become a real headache for Boris Jonson's government