Lib Dems ditch key pledges in face of £178bn public deficit

Free universal childcare, free personal care for the elderly and a citizen's pension are among the other commitments to be put on hold because of the state of the public finances.

Mr Clegg, MP for Sheffield Hallam, said voters should be treated "like grown-ups" as he accused Labour and the Tories of playing "playground politics" by producing shopping lists of policies to "buy off" voters. But his up-front stance risks alienating some of the party grass roots.

He said he had done more than either of the other parties to set out how they would tackle the 178bn budget deficit.

"People want politicians to spell out their priorities, spell out the choices, rather than live in denial about the dilemmas we face," Mr Clegg said in a speech in London yesterday.

"That means that some multi- billion-pound spending commitments we have promoted in the past – like new free childcare entitlements, a new citizen's pension or free personal care – will no longer be firm commitments in our manifesto but will be put on hold until they become affordable again.

"And some of our other pledges such as the scrapping of tuition fees will have to be phased in over a longer period of time."

Treasury Minister Stephen Timms said the Lib Dems had realised their plans did not "add up" and were making "U-turn after U-turn".

Party sets out new agenda

How the Lib Dems will reduce the budget deficit:

Ten per cent levy on banks' profits while the taxpayer has a stake

No like-for-like replacement for Trident nuclear deterrent

Ending tax credits for above average income families

Cancel Baby Bonds

400 cap on all public sector pay increases

Previous policies now downgraded:

Scrapping tuition fees

Free universal childcare

Free personal care for the elderly

Citizen's pension

New manifesto priorities:

Fair tax, with income tax threshold raised to 10,000

Smaller class sizes and more one-to-one tuition in schools

Emphasis on green technology to rebuild economy

Political reform with fewer MPs and more decentralisation