Clegg now trails Labour in his own Sheffield seat

Nick Clegg talks to media at the Panasonic Manufacturing site in Cardiff

The Liberal Democrat leader, who is defending a healthy 15,284 majority in Sheffield Hallam, trailed by 27% to 29% according the latest research by Lord Ashcroft.

It also found evidence of a concerted effort on the ground to prevent the Deputy Prime Minister being ousted, with more than three quarters saying they had received literature, letters, phone calls or visits from his team.

Just over 1,000 people in the South Yorkshire constituency were interviewed by telephone between March 22-28 and asked to say how they would vote.

Better news for the party in the survey of eight Lib Dem battleground seats concerned Cambridge, where it has moved nine points ahead of Labour in the battle to retain the seat - after being a point behind in a similar poll in September.

A Lib Dem spokesman said: “Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats have a strong record of action in Sheffield, from investing £1.2bn for brand new roads and pavements, to providing £62m to help disadvantaged children and delivering an £800 tax cut for more than 200,000 people across the city.

“We believe that when it comes to the choice on May 7th, the people of Sheffield Hallam will back Liberal Democrat plans to invest an extra £8bn in the NHS, including £3.5bn in mental health, protect education funding from cradle to college and give working people an extra £400 tax cut.”

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