NICK Clegg last night insisted new powers would be delivered to Holyrood "as promised - no ifs, no buts", and without being tied to devolution elsewhere in the UK.

The LibDem leader told the opening rally at his party's UK conference in Glasgow that no-one should forget the independence referendum had been "a close-run thing".

He said: "Scottish people did not vote to maintain the status quo. Now is the time for us to come together, to heal our divisions and to get on with the business of giving the people of Scotland more power over their own lives."

Addressing delegates at the Clyde Auditorium, the Deputy Prime Minister said the referendum had created "a rare opportunity, a rare moment of consensus" to extend devolution throughout the UK, and set out four steps to achieving it.

"First, new powers for Scotland will be delivered as promised - no ifs, no buts. And not conditional on any other reforms. We are the guarantors in Government that there will be no backsliding on this. And what is right for Scotland is every bit as right for Wales. Under our watch, Welsh home rule must become a reality."

The second step, he said, would be answering the West Lothian Question by letting English and Welsh MPs vet English and Welsh-only laws.

The LibDem solution was a grand committee proportionate to party support across the country, not a "politically motivated stitch-up" giving Tory MPs a permanent majority because of the first-past-the-post system.

Clegg said: "Let's see whether the Tories are serious about fair constitutional reform or whether what they were really hoping for all along is a grubby power grab in Westminster without a mandate from the voters to do so."

Third, he wanted "a constitutional convention with a Citizens' Jury at its heart starting next year" and finally a "radical" decentralisation of powers in England.

Looking ahead to May's General Election, Clegg said the LibDems were in "the fight of our lives" but would "upset the odds again", despite being written off by commentators.

He said a Tory government would be in turmoil over Europe and increasingly heartless and authoritarian.

He predicted "a Tory party leadership in hock to their right wing, desperately running after and pandering to Ukip's ugly nationalism", while a Labour government would squander the recovery, increase debt and ruin the economy.

He said: "We can't allow Labour to throw away our recovery. And we can't allow the Conservatives to put the interests of a few above the needs of the many.

"The only party that can build a stronger economy and a fairer society, so that everyone can have the opportunity to get on in life, is the Liberal Democrats."

However, polls show the LibDems have continued to decline since reneging on their 2010 election pledge not to back university tuition fees.

Nationally, support for the party is now in single figures.

A Panelbase poll commissioned by the SNP last week showed the party also haemorrhaging support north of the Border.

Of those who voted LibDem in 2010, just one-quarter said they would support the party again at May's General Election.

In contrast, more than 80% of voters who supported the SNP in 2010 said they would do so again next year.

The figure for the Conservatives was 74%, while 63% said they would stick with Labour.

One subsequent projection suggested the LibDems could lose seven of their 11 Scottish seats in 2015, with five going to the SNP and two to the Tories.

Polling expert Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University said: "The numbers in the poll are awful for the LibDems. They're in terrible trouble."