Labour and the Conservatives risk being "constantly blackmailed" if they go into government with either the SNP or Ukip, Nick Clegg's wife has warned.

Miriam Gonzalez Durantez hit the campaign trail in Scotland to urge voters to reject the prospect of such deals by backing the Liberal Democrats.

She teamed up with UK Business Minister Jo Swinson to launch a new plan aimed at improving opportunities for women.

As she did so, Ms Gonzalez Durantez revealed she was very proud of what her husband had achieved as Deputy Prime Minister - but insisted he would have done even better if he had held the top job in British politics.

With just over a week to go till the General Election, the Liberal Democrats are facing the prospect of heavy losses in Scotland, where surging support for the SNP has seen Nicola Sturgeon's party tipped to become the third largest at Westminster.

But both Ms Gonzalez Durantez and Ms Swinson spoke out about the risks of the UK having Labour administration propped up by Scottish nationalists after May 7.

Ms Gonzalez Durantez, who has built a successful career as a lawyer, said: "It is very clear that this is not an election that is going to be won by anybody, the only ones that guarantee a stable government anchored in the centre are the Lib Dems.

"If people do not want to have a government that is constantly blackmailed by the SNP or by the right wing of the Tory party with Ukip, there is a very easy answer. It is that easy - they just have to vote Lib Dem."

Similarly, Ms Swinson stated: "There is a real danger you have a government that gets dragged off to an extreme, either an extreme left-wing scenario with ever more borrowing undermining the economic recovery under Labour with the SNP, with the huge risk of a potential other referendum which could tear our country apart.

"Or, indeed, with the extreme right-wing Conservatives and their allies in the Ukip party who want to tear us out of Europe and also just keep cutting for idealogical reasons.

"Neither of those is a particularly attractive prospect for voters and there is a really clear way to avoid it, which is to vote Liberal Democrat."

Ms Gonzalez Durantez went on to say it was a "pity" her husband had not become prime minister after the 2010 election, saying he would have done "even better things" if he had been handed the keys to 10 Downing Street.

But she hailed his party's achievements in coalition with the Tories, saying: "If you look at the record they have, shared parental leave, more apprenticeships, stabilising the economy, the amount of things they have done with 56 MPs. Imagine if they had more."

She said the Lib Dem MPs at Westminster had been a "dream team" for what they had achieved "in really difficult circumstances for the country".