Clegg's challenge

What voters want, and need to see, is signs of strong leadership and firmly-held beliefs. In unveiling their manifesto for Yorkshire, the Liberal Democrats and their leader Nick Clegg proclaim that a vote for their party would mean the end "of red-blue, blue-red" politics.

Policy pledges announced yesterday include one-in-five people on the lowest incomes in the region not having to pay any income tax, more money being promised for Yorkshire's schools and more police patrolling the streets.

The party is keen to promote itself as a genuine alternative to what it describes as the "rotten" political system which brought so much shame on Parliament during the expenses scandal.

However, whether Mr Clegg likes it or not, his party's most important contribution to the next Government might be in working alongside one of the two parties who he attacks so frequently.

Critics of the Sheffield Hallam MP have previously said that he looks and sounds too much like David Cameron. It's the consequence of 13 years of New Labour rule which makes it more difficult to find clear ideological differences between the parties.

Mr Clegg's success will depend on him being able to convince voters that he can offer something different. He will also need to step out of the shadow cast by his erstwhile deputy, York-born Vince Cable, who has become the Liberal Democrats' most recognisable figure during the economic downturn, to establish himself as a national and credible leader in his own right.