Keeping Nigel Farage out of Downing Street is 'moral responsibility', Lib Dem leader says

Keeping Nigel Farage out of Downing Street is 'moral responsibility', Lib Dem leader says EXCLUSIVE: Sir Ed Davey raised concerns over the recent £72million donated to Reform by Crypto billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, and vowed his party would be a 'firewall'f against Reform Keeping Nigel Farage out of Downing Street is a “moral responsibility”, and the “most serious” task of his political career, the Lib Dem leader has claimed. Sir Ed Davey raised concerns over the recent £72million donated to Reform by Crypto billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, and vowed his party would be a “firewall” against Reform. Earlier this year ministers brought in a £100,000 ceiling on the sum of money that can be donated to political parties by anyone living abroad, which would also be enforced for the first 12 months after British expats come back to the UK. Addressing the recent donations scandal, the Kingston and Surbiton MP said: “With this new money, it is deeply threatening. “Having dismantled the blue wall at the last election, we now have an orange wall, which we want to defend and expand. That, I think, is the way to keep the Tories out and stop Reform. “I deeply worry about Reform, who increasingly are openly racist and dividing our country, and one thing I hope Burnham will do is to focus a little bit more on where that populism and extremism is at its worst. “I feel a heavy responsibility on me and our party, because I genuinely think we are a firewall against Reform in areas where Labour just aren't playing. It's a moral responsibility and I don't think I've had anything more serious to do in my political career.” His intervention comes as the UK elections watchdog announced political spending limits will be reviewed. Vijay Rangarajan - the head of the Electoral Commission - said the rules needed to be "fit for purpose" and maintain public confidence in campaign financing. He told the Sunday Times: "Our review will look across the campaign spending framework as a whole, including spending limits, the interaction between party and candidate spending, and the reporting requirements that support public confidence in the system." He was tasked to set up the review in July by ministers. Under existing restrictions, parties standing candidates in Britain must not spend more than £34 million in the year before a general election. Elsewhere at the Lib Dem conference, Sir Ed urged the PM to cut fuel duty by 10p a litre at least until Christmas to ease cost-of-living pressures. The party also wants to slash bus fares to £1, cut rail fares by 10% and make driving electric cars cheaper by cutting VAT on public charging.