Clegg confident Lib Dems will silence critics
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 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 per cent.
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 said: "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."
