Nick Clegg has claimed tactical voting will see the Liberal Democrats retain all their Scottish MPs, with local campaigning proving crucial in areas like north-east Fife.
The Deputy Prime Minister visited a nursery in East Dunbartonshire as part of his battle bus tour around the country, as news emerged of Lord Ashcroft research predicting Labour would oust him from his Sheffield Hallam constituency.
Despite bombing polling numbers, the Lib Dem leader was bullish when asked how many seats would still be controlled by his party north of the border next month.
“All of them,” he said. “It’s clearly going to be a challenge.
“It’s going to be a closely fought set of elections up and down the country and in Scotland as well but in a way that’s what an election should be.
“An election should be a proper contest.
“I don’t think elections should be coronations, although that’s the Alex Salmond view of elections that you should simply take voters for granted and start measuring up the curtains for your Westminster office before people have actually cast their vote.”
When asked if losing big hitters such as Sir Menzies Campbell in north-east Fife and Sir Malcolm Bruce in Gordon would make campaigning more difficult, Mr Clegg did not mention Fife candidate Tim Brett but instead focused entirely on Christine Jardine’s Aberdeenshire battle against Mr Salmond.
He said: “I think filling big shoes is always a challenge for the successor candidates. But on the other hand, if you look at Christine Jardine, she brings a renewed energy and vigour to the seat and new ideas, and I think that is particularly important in a place like Gordon.
“At a time when a lot of the public is turned off by the yah-boo of politics, dedication to your local constituents will come through as a particularly important quality when people decide how to vote on May 7.”
He claimed if people did not want SNP victories, “frankly whether you’re a Liberal Democrat, or Labour or Conservative voter traditionally, it makes much more sense” to back his party and insisted he was “very confident” he would retain his seat.
SNP election campaign director Angus Robertson said: “The Lib Dem campaign is increasingly out of touch with reality as polls show their message being rejected all over the UK.
“Resorting to pleading with Tories to vote for them will just make a desperate situation even worse.”