LIBERAL DEMOCRAT leader Nick Clegg, who spent the day campaigning in a crucial byelection battle in Oldham that will be decided next week, yesterday ruled out any election pact with the Conservatives in the next British general election.
Declaring “once and for all” that there would be no pact to safeguard vulnerable seats in marginal constituencies, the deputy prime minister insisted his party would fight “as an independent political party in every constituency in the country”.
The Oldham and Saddleworth byelection was called after Labour MP Phil Woolas was ejected from his seat by an electoral court after it ruled that he had made false charges against his Liberal Democrat opponent, Elwyn Watkins, whom he beat by just over 100 votes.
The vote, this day week, is crucial for the Liberal Democrats, who have fallen badly in the opinion polls after they reneged on an election commitment to freeze, and subsequently abolish, college tuition fees.
Instead the fees will double and, in some cases, triple.
Some Conservatives have become unhappy about the relationship between Mr Clegg and prime minister David Cameron, particularly given the lacklustre nature of the Conservatives’ own campaign in the Oldham and Saddleworth campaign.
The suspicions have been strengthened by the decision to let Mr Clegg make a speech this Friday on civil liberties, including changes to anti-terrorism control orders – even though security and intelligence officials want to keep the majority of them in place.
Mr Cameron has yet to appear in the constituency, while only one Conservative minister has so far campaigned, leading to a belief among some Conservative backbenchers unhappy with the coalition that Mr Cameron privately wants the Liberal Democrats to win.
The Conservatives’ candidate, Kashif Ali, yesterday denied that his party was running a “soft campaign”: “I think the figures speak for themselves — we saw the results in May. Not only did we come within 2,400 votes of winning, we saw an increase in our vote by 50 per cent and a 9 per cent swing towards us when the Labour vote went down and the Lib Dem vote went down.”
Labour leader Ed Miliband, meanwhile, has ordered a high-level campaign behind its candidate, Debbie Abrahams, as he has launched a series of attacks on both coalition partners – but particularly on the Liberal Democrats.
In a sign that the tuition fees controversy has not died away, a small number of student protesters attempted to raise banners behind Mr Clegg as he campaigned outside a supermarket before they were bustled away by party canvassers.
Defending his record in office, Mr Clegg said: “I think the choice here is much like the choice in the rest of the country. This is the wrong time for indecision. This is the wrong time to duck tough choices and I think the people here deserve more than a blank sheet of paper from Labour.”
In May, Mr Woolas won 31.9 per cent of the vote, while Mr Watkins had 31.6 per cent.
The Conservative candidate secured 26.4 per cent. The British National Party got 5.7 per cent, UKIP 3.9 per cent and the Christian Party 0.5 per cent. National opinion polls now put the Liberal Democrats on just 8 per cent.
