Activists make their mark with boycott of 'free schools' plan

The Deputy Prime Minister was hoping to use his address to calm his party's fears over the coalition deal with an impassioned defence of his decision to share power with the Conservatives.

But internal tensions were starkly highlighted just hours before he took to the stage as party members overwhelmingly backed a boycott of Tory plans for a network of "free" schools.

Attempts by the leadership to water down the criticism by removing claims that the policy would increase "social divisiveness and inequity" were resoundingly thrown out following a passionate debate in the packed hall. Few spoke up in favour of the policy despite Education Minister Sarah Teather warning that the boycott would be "fundamentally illiberal" and the scale of the majority in favour sent a clear message to the party leadership.

The motion – which is also highly critical of the creation of new academy schools – calls on all Lib Dems "to urge people not to take up the option" of creating the "free" schools championed by Tory Education Secretary Michael Gove.

Although the activists' vote does not change Government policy, Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes insisted yesterday that the party "can stop things happening". He said: "For the first time ever, motions passed at our conference are relevant in influencing our party in Government."

The vote came as several critics from the left of the party issued public warnings about the implications of entering the coalition – one warning Mr Clegg he risked creating a "dictatorship of ministers" if he ignored grassroots opinion.

Portsmouth South MP Mike Hancock issued an open letter to Mr Clegg complaining that policies such as a rise in VAT and benefit cuts had been adopted without approval despite not being detailed in the coalition agreement. Proposed cuts in housing benefit were "spiteful, vindictive, increase poverty, reduce freedom and social mobility and pander to the worst aspects of Tories", he told him.

Mr Clegg received the backing of former party leader Lord Ashdown, however, who said his successor had done "exactly the right thing".