NICK Clegg "isn't toast," his Liberal Democrat colleague and party deputy Sir Malcolm Bruce has insisted, saying British politics was in a volatile state at the present time.
The MP for Gordon said voters would in the next few months have to "think very hard" about what outcome they wanted on May 8.
"At the moment, people are in protest, they don't like the fact we've had a really hard economic time and, therefore, they are not prepared at the moment to reward the Coalition government. But when they consider what the alternatives are and what the outcome might be, they will firm up their support for the Coalition because they will recognise that it has brought about a recovery that the other parties could throw away," argued Sir Malcolm.
When it was pointed out that the Lib Dems were fourth in Scotland and fourth or sometimes fifth across the UK, the deputy leader insisted people should not prejudge the outcome of the election.
"There are people out there yet to make up their mind and when they reflect the positive things the Liberal Democrats have achieved on tax, pensions, the green agenda and schools, they will want to see more not fewer Liberal Democrats in the next parliament; that's what our campaign's going to be about."
When comments from Lib Dem backbencher John Pugh were mentioned - the Southport MP made clear that a section of the electorate was "just not listening to Nick" and other voices were needed to get the party's message across - Sir Malcolm insisted: "Nick Clegg isn't toast. What I do find frustrating is that parties do go through difficult situations.
"Nick Clegg hasn't been weak, hasn't been pathetic; he's been strong and resilient. He has taken the tough decisions in the national interest, which have delivered real results and liberal results, which would not have happened without the Liberal Democrats in government. We have made a positive difference and can make a positive difference again."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article