Clegg accuses opponents of trying to scare off voters

Nick Clegg went on the offensive today, accusing David Cameron and Gordon Brown of attempting to “frighten” British voters away from voting Liberal Democrat.

Returning to the campaign trail after last night’s leaders’ debate Mr Clegg, who has been the subject of a barrage of attacks in the press, hit out at the “abuse” he has received.

He said people should put “hope before fear” in an election which was the most exciting for a generation.

Mr Clegg said he enjoyed the second leaders’ debate, claiming it was a “bit more feisty” than his first televised showdown with the Prime Minister and Tory leader Mr Cameron.

The first debate catapulted Mr Clegg into the public spotlight but also led to a backlash which Lib Dem election co-ordinator Danny Alexander claimed was “an orchestrated smear campaign” against Mr Clegg organised by “Team Cameron”.

Asked about the claims on a campaign visit to Newcastle Aviation Academy Mr Clegg said: “All I know of course is that there are plenty of people about who are worried that things are not going according to their plan.

“Their plan was just an effortless game of pass the parcel between Labour and the Conservative Party so there are lots of people both in politics and parts of the Press who don’t like the fact that we are saying maybe we can do something different this time.

“They have come up with lots of reasons, and some fairly unpleasant stuff as well, to try and frighten people back into the old politics.”

Asked if he accepted the party was going to come under more scrutiny, he said: “I welcome scrutiny. There’s a difference between scrutiny and abuse.”

Later, addressing Lib Dem supporters in a supermarket car park in Norwich, Mr Clegg accused Labour and the Tories of scaremongering in an attempt to protect their share of the vote.

He said: “Gordon Brown said people shouldn’t take a chance on real change, shouldn’t take a risk on real change, that he is somehow the guarantor of stability.

“This from the man who has presided over the worst economic recession in living memory.

“He is now spreading fear, trying to frighten people back into the old politics that got us into so much trouble in the first place.”

Mr Cameron and his “coterie” in the Conservative Party were making “ludicrous claims of Armageddon in the markets” in the event of a hung Parliament.

He said: “We should be putting people before the markets. We should be putting hope before fear.

“We shouldn’t be frightening people into thinking they cannot choose differently this time.”

Mr Clegg said he had enjoyed the “Twitter phenomenon in which I am held responsible, in keeping with a fairly rich vein of reporting in parts of the press, for anything which has ever gone wrong”.

On the website, posts blamed Mr Clegg for a variety of mishaps and disasters including a user calledurbancyclist claiming the Lib Dem leader was “seen two weeks ago poking Eyjafjallajokull with a stick”.

Mr Clegg said: “What that humour showed on Twitter was that there are also thousands of people who are getting engaged and they are not believing what they are told to believe.

“They are having some fun, they are taking ownership, they are taking possession of this election.

“This is a people’s election, it is not an election where people are going to be told by politicians or anyone else what to do.”

In Newcastle Mr Clegg said: “The debate last night showed very clearly that the General Election campaign is now wide open.

“In my view this is now the most exciting and unpredictable election this country has had for a generation.”

Lib Dem aides have highlighted this second visit of the campaign to the North East as a signal that they are confident of picking up seats from Labour in the region.

Mr Clegg said: “The North does not belong to Labour. It belongs to you – the people who live and work in the North.”

In an email to activists John Sharkey, chairman of the Lib Dem’s election campaign, said the Conservatives were also concerned by the party’s surge in opinion poll ratings.

“The progress we’re making is real, and the Conservatives are worried,” he wrote.

The Tory attacks on Mr Clegg had “backfired” and the Lib Dems had received “record donations through our website”, Mr Sharkey claimed.