Sir Ed Davey on a jet ski to the Liberal Democrat Party Conference

With this result, they are now the third largest party in Parliament, behind the Labour government and the Conservatives, who won 121 seats.

Sir Ed added: “I think you will hear us talking about health and care every day in sunny Brighton.

“We have made this the centrepiece of our manifesto and we will continue to do so. This is what people voted for when they voted for the Liberal Democrats.”

At about the same time as the jet ski ride, parliamentary group leader Wendy Chamberlain was at the conference centre outlining her party’s desire to push through changes to parliamentary procedures to give the party more influence as the third-largest bloc in the House of Commons.

In her speech to the conference, Ms Chamberlain said: “Being the third party is a great responsibility. We have a far greater ability to bring about change today than in previous legislatures. We want to be a constructive opposition.”

She added: “Our Parliament offers the main opposition party a special platform over the third party, but the election result we have just seen raises questions about whether this is the fairest way forward.

“After all, the gap between the second and third parties has never been smaller in the last 100 years.”

The Liberal Democrats’ autumn conference in Brighton lasts until Tuesday.