Nick Clegg has insisted his party would “confound the critics” on May 7 as he stepped up his attack on his coalition colleagues, warning that David Cameron would be in the pocket of Ukip if he attempted to govern alone after polling day.
The Liberal Democrat leader said his party had been consistently written off but had shown itself to be the “Great Houdini of British politics” and claimed that “fair-minded folk” would acknowledge the work done by him and his colleagues in office.
He dismissed opinion poll indications that Labour could oust him from his Sheffield Hallam seat and claimed there would be instability unless the Lib Dems shared power with either Labour or the Tories after the election.
The Lib Dem leader was taking a break from his national campaign to spend time in his constituency as the party’s recent dire opinion poll ratings began to show signs of improvement.
A ComRes study for ITV and the Daily Mail put the Lib Dems – who have consistently surrendered their third-party status in polls for a long period – up three to join Ukip on 12%.
Mr Clegg said he was “confident” that he would win in Sheffield Hallam and despite the U-turn on tuition fees his party had put in place measures “which will stand the test of time”
Speaking on a visit to a nursery in his constituency he told ITV Calendar: “I’m confident that I will win here, not complacent. Every election should be a contest, not a coronation.
“Every single time, for as long as I have been in politics, people have written off the Liberal Democrats, and guess what has happened every single time? We confound the critics, the cynics, people who shout us down from right or left.
“We are a very tough, resilient party. I think we took a plucky and brave decision to step up to the plate and rescue the British economy. I’m chuffed to bits that because of Liberal Democrats in government we have given people tax cuts, fairer pensions, more apprenticeships, more help for working families to make sure their kids can come to nurseries like this, free meals at lunchtime, the list goes on.
“It’s for people then to judge, but I think most fair-minded folk – they may not like that decision or this decision, may not like that we were not able to put one of our policies, famously, into practice – many fair-minded folk will actually acknowledge we did the right thing by the country and we have put into practice many more policies which will stand the test of time.”
In an interview with The Independent, Mr Clegg said: “We are the Great Houdini of British politics. We get out of tight corners and escape the knots our opponents make for us.”
Mr Cameron views taking Lib Dem seats as his route to a return to Number 10.
But Mr Clegg insisted that neither Labour nor the Tories could win an outright majority, and Mr Cameron would be “in the pockets” of his party’s right and Ukip after the election if he attempted to govern without the influence of the Lib Dems.
“I just don’t think having a weak Conservative administration dancing to the tune of the right-wing of the Conservative Party or Nigel Farage and Ukip is good for the country, in the same way I don’t think having a weak Labour administration dancing to the tune of Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon is good for the country either.”
He added: “David Cameron warns about a choice between competence and chaos. I think the only way that we can get competence is by having a government of the future anchored in the centre ground as it has been for the last five years. You are only going to get that by voting for Liberal Democrat MPs.
“If you vote for Conservative MPs what you risk getting – you are not going to get a Conservative majority, everyone knows that – what instead you get is the instability of a Conservative Party leadership in hock, in the pockets of and dancing to the tune of the right-wing brigade on the Conservative Party backbenches and dancing to the tune of Nigel Farage and Ukip.”
Mr Clegg, who has faced repeated questions on the campaign trail about candidates who do not have prominent Lib Dem branding on their leaflets, said he had not mentioned his party in some of the material sent out to his own constituents.
He said: “I have just written a letter to a number of constituents here in Sheffield Hallam about my personal motives, why I am so keen to make sure that we do more to help little children from whatever circumstances they are born into to get the best start in life.
“My mum was a teacher of dyslexic children, she instilled in me and my brothers and my sister an absolute belief that education – particularly in the early years – is the most important thing.
“I didn’t mention the Liberal Democrats there, I didn’t mention Westminster, because people don’t want to be talked at as if everybody is just in a game in Westminster village. People want to be talked at like human beings, they want to understand who their MPs and their candidates are, what their motivations are.
“You don’t always need party leaders and party logos to do that.”
The Lib Dems have attempted to woo young voters with a promise of Government loans to fund deposits on rental properties to enable them to leave their family homes.
Mr Clegg said the policy would help the “clipped wing generation” who are unable to leave home and the parents “who want their kids out of their hair”.
Under the Help To Rent scheme, which the Lib Dems expect could be taken up by around 1.8 million people, successful applicants would use the loan worth up to £1,500 – or £2,000 in London – to meet the cost of their deposit.