UKIP Now Party Of Protest, Says Nick Clegg

Nick Clegg argues that the Liberal Democrats have become a serious party of government with UKIP replacing them as the nation's protest vote.

The Deputy Prime Minister, launching his party's local election campaign, said they could now say to voters "don't support us simply to stick two fingers to the others".

He said UKIP revelled in its status as "Britain's protest party", and accused it of "scaring everybody witless" and "indulging in dangerous fantasies".

Mr Clegg insisted the Lib Dems are the only party that can fix Labour's mess, rein in the Tories and stand up to Nigel Farage's party.

But he is facing an uphill task with a poll at the weekend for the European elections putting UKIP on 29%, Labour on 26%, the Conservatives on 23% and Lib Dems on 10%.

With voters going to the polls for the English council and European Parliament elections on May 22, Mr Clegg sought to brace his supporters for losses.

He said: "The local elections are different for us now, the Euros too.

"Bluntly, we are not the protest vote any more. We are not the 'none of the above' party any more. We're not the 'we don't like the world, let's get off' party any more.

"UKIP is now the protest party in British politics, scaring everybody witless, indulging in dangerous fantasies, claiming somehow miraculously every problem on the face of our planet would be lifted from our shoulders if only we just left the European Union.

"Everything I have done as leader has been about taking us on to the next stage: making the Liberal Democrats a serious party of government - national and local, too."

Mr Clegg went on: "We're not asking you to vote for us to just stick two fingers up against the other two parties. We're asking you to vote for something.

"We are the only party in these elections that have the courage to stand up to UKIP, the only party relied upon to rein in the Conservatives, the only party to undo the damage done by Labour to our economy."

But Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman said: "The Lib Dems are a party of broken promises. Nick Clegg says they're different from the Tories, but the truth is they've backed David Cameron all the way.

"From trebling tuition fees when they promised to abolish them, increasing VAT when they promised not to, backing the bedroom tax, cutting tax for millionaires and undermining the NHS, the Lib Dems are not a constraint on the Tories - they are their willing helpers."