Nick Clegg ‘should quit’ after losses

wdnews@bepp.co.uk

Nick Clegg last night faced calls to quit as Liberal Democrat leader after the party took a hammering in the local elections.

It lost control of a series of councils in its West Country heartland along with scores of seats – while coalition partners the Conservatives were almost unscathed.

And with his dream of changing the voting system also in tatters, Mr Clegg has been left facing the toughest battle in his political career.

The Tories gained control of Mendip, coming hot on the heels of Chancellor George Osborne’s visit on Wednesday.

They also took control of Tewkesbury, Gloucester and West Somerset.

The Liberal Democrats lost control of Bristol, which now faces a period of uncertainty with no party wining a majority, in a contest that saw the Greens gain a seat.

However Mr Clegg’s party bucked the trend in Bath & North East Somerset, gaining three seats from the Tories.

The parties now each have 29 councillors, and the authority remains in no overall control.

However, the Tories did lose control of Stroud to no overall control, and in Cotswold they lost 10 seats – although they retained control – with the Lib Dems gaining seven.

Mr Clegg admitted his party had suffered a “real knock” in its worst local elections showing since the 1980s, while it also did badly in Scotland and Wales.

But he insisted he and his coalition colleagues would “dust ourselves down” and carry on working with the Conservatives.

“What we need to do is redouble our efforts to not only explain, but show precisely, one of the reasons the Liberal Democrats are in Government is so that we don’t go backwards as a country, but that we go forwards,” he said.

In contrast to their coalition partners, the Tories saw their support hold up well despite a raft of seemingly unpopular cuts since they came to power last year.

It included making some gains in Scotland, where the Scottish Nationalists won a stunning victory and Labour leader Iain Gray announced he is to quit.

Gary Long, Lib Dem leader in Nottingham where the party suffered a total wipeout, led the calls for Mr Clegg to go.

“I’m in favour of the coalition but I think he’s run it very badly and in my view he should resign immediately,” he said.

After the first real test of public opinion on the coalition, Chorley Lib Dem leader Ken Ball accused Mr Clegg of “letting the party down” while Irene Davidson of Rochdale council urged him to “think about his position”.

Bristol’s Lib Dem leader Barbara Janke blamed the “national factor” for the loss of five seats, although they remain the largest party.

“We really feel Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats have been rather unfairly blamed for anything that’s wrong with the coalition,” she said.

“But then there is a challenge for us to explain the policies, communicate them and make sure people understand the very positive things we are doing.”

Former Lib Dem leader and Yeovil MP Paddy Ashdown admitted voters believed they had been betrayed by Mr Clegg’s decision to enter the coalition.

He said the party’s trust in David Cameron was damaged by the bruising AV referendum campaign, and while the coalition would continue, relations between the Lib Dems and Tories would be more “businesslike” in future.

Lord Ashdown said the Tories were guilty of “bloody stupidity” for failing the stop the campaign, mainly funded by his party supporters, from personally targeting Mr Clegg, the coalition’s Deputy PM.

Mr Cameron promised not to celebrate a referendum victory, adding he was “absolutely committed to make this coalition Government, which I believe is good for Britain, work for the full five years”.

Labour leader Ed Miliband claimed voters had “withdrawn permission” from the Lib Dems to support the Tories.

But he admitted his party had more work to do to regain the trust of voters, with it failing to post significant gains in many of the West polls.

Last night, it emerged the South West had the biggest turnout in England in the AV referendum at 44.6 per cent.

That was behind only Scotland in the UK (50.7 per cent) and compared to just 35.4 per cent in London and 38.7 per cent in the North East.

The referendum was heading for an overwhelming No vote – early results were around 70 per cent – including a 67.98 per cent result in Weymouth & Portland.

Lib Dem minister and Taunton Deane MP Jeremy Browne said: “I do think there is an onus on the people who want to make a change to make the case for the change.

“The Yes campaign ultimately didn’t make a sufficiently compelling case.”