Clegg tells critics: Vote Labour

His party’s poll ratings are dreadful, his own even worse. Serious questions are being asked about his judgment, his leadership – and about just how badly the Liberal Democrats might fare in the next election.

But Nick Clegg has stern words for his critics – ‘go and vote Labour instead’.

“There are a group of people who simply aren’t interested in parties that get into power to take difficult decisions,” he said.

“They are a group of people who like to throw stones from the sidelines; who like to be associated with causes where there’s never a difficult decision to be made; who don’t actually like parties being in government; and who always scream betrayal when any party goes into government.

“In other words, people who like protest, but not the reality of power. And I make no apology in saying to those people – we are not the party for you.

“If people want just protest politics, if they want a sort of ‘I don’t like the world, I want to get off’ party, they’ve got one. It’s called the Labour Party.”

There’s no question it has been a difficult autumn conference for Mr Clegg – the poll ratings have seen to that.

But speaking to journalists on the eve of his keynote speech, he was insistent his party can recover in the second half of its five-year term in government, convinced the public will begin to give them credit for work they have done.

“I think we’re the only party in British politics now which are more economically credible than Labour, but socially fairer than the Conservatives,” he said.

“Clearly our fortunes have suffered quite a downturn recently, but I think there are many people out in the country who come 2015 will respect and be attracted by a party that has shown not only that it’s got its heart in the right place… but also a party that’s prepared to show that when in power, it takes hard-headed decisions.”

A key question rather close to home for the Lib Dem leader is whether his party can recover popularity in the North of England, where it has lost control of a string of councils including Hull and Sheffield – the city he serves as an MP.

“I wouldn’t be sitting here now if I didn’t think I had fuel in the tank and wasn’t capable of doing so,” he said.

“I know more than most Liberal Democrats what it means to fight against the mendacity and lies of Labour and their trade union-funded campaigns.

“They have thrown a lot of bile at the Liberal Democrats over the last year or two, a lot of it is untrue, and it’s based on one of the most shameless deceptions in British politics – which is that they still don’t apologise for nearly bankrupting the country.”

Mr Clegg remains furious about Labour’s attacks on his flagship regional growth fund policy, designed to drive boost the private sector outside of the South East, and he accused Public Accounts Committee chairman Margaret Hodge of a “shameless piece of political posturing” for her criticisms of the scheme earlier this month.

There have been delays in getting money out to firms, he admitted, but insisted it is now beginning to make “a very considerable difference” to the economies of Yorkshire and other struggling regions.

The Deputy Prime Minister has been the driving force behind the coalition’s devolution drive, and recently signed off historic “City Deals” with England’s eight largest cities which gave sweeping powers back to local authority leaders. Eventually, he suggested, he would like to see such powers handed back to all parts of the country.

“My long-term ambition over time is to make the City Deals the norm, not the exception,” he said. “It should be extended wherever we can to other parts of the country.”

That may well include rural areas. This week party delegates backed proposals for district and county councils in rural areas to club together and bid for City-style deals.

“I suspect we might come up with a hybrid approach where you work down the list of the next largest population centres, but you also allow other areas to be able to bid,” he said. “But exactly how we get that balance right… is something we are working on right now.”

He also raised the possibility the Leeds and Sheffield City Regions could come back at a later date and request more powers on top of their existing deals – delivering yet more powers back into the hands of local communities.

“For me they are the beginning of a journey, not the end,” he said.

Mr Clegg also spoke passionately about efforts to develop an offshore wind engineering industry on the banks of the Humber, which he said would have “a transformative effect in Hull”.