Mandelson warns Labour waverers not to flirt with Clegg
Peter Mandelson today issued a warning to straying Labour voters who are considering voting Liberal Democrat – flirt with Nick Clegg and you will end up married to David Cameron.
The Labour campaign chief’s caution came as a clutch of polls suggested that Britain is heading for a hung Parliament in the May 6 General Election, with Conservatives the biggest party but Lib Dems holding the balance of power.
Mr Clegg said Labour was now increasingly “irrelevant” to the question of what happened after the election, and dismissed as “a complete nonsense” the idea that Lib Dems would prop up Gordon Brown if he won the most seats on the smallest share of the vote.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, the Lib Dem leader made clear he would offer his party’s support to “the party that has more votes and seats, but doesn’t get an absolute majority” and said Tories would be making a “major strategic error” if they turned down a deal because of their commitment to the first-past-the-post voting system.
“If they want to position themselves as a roadblock to reform, that’s their choice,” he said, adding: “Labour is increasingly irrelevant. The question now is one in which the Labour Party plays no role.”
However, Mr Cameron poured cold water on the idea that he might be ready to deliver the reform of the Westminster voting system which will be Mr Clegg’s prime demand in any talks on a post-election pact.
The Tory leader told The Observer: “I want us to keep the current system that enables you to throw a government out of office. That is my view... We think this is an important issue.”
A rash of opinion polls for the Sunday papers suggested the election remains a three-horse race but the field is widening, with Conservatives extending their lead over Lib Dems and Labour falling a little further behind.
The surveys all pointed towards a hung Parliament, though Ipsos Mori in the News of the World had the Lib Dems slipping back into third place with just 23% - the sort of figure they were recording before Mr Clegg’s first triumphant TV debate.
Others had Tories on 32%-35%, Lib Dems on 28%-32% and Labour on 23%-28%.
Lord Mandelson acknowledged that some former Labour voters were considering “looking elsewhere”, but warned them that a vote for the Lib Dems risked a Conservative government.
“You might start flirting with Nick Clegg, but that way you will end up marrying David Cameron,” he told the Sunday Mirror.
“People have got to remember the biggest number of seats that could change hands are between Tory and Labour. If they vote Lib Dem, they are making it easier for the Tories to get in.”
In a sign of how much the Lib Dem surge has shaken up both main parties, Mr Cameron – previously seen as a shoo-in for Prime Minister – told the Observer it was only “quite possible to win”, though he insisted this was still his goal.
But Tories also believe that the Liberal resurgence could open up new avenues of attack for them by eating into the Labour vote in marginal constituencies previously thought impregnable.
George Osborne last night signalled a change in Conservative campaign strategy, saying Tories were “expanding the battleground” over the last 10 days of the campaign to seats which did not initially feature on their list of targets.
Among new targets are Morley & Outwood in West Yorkshire, where Schools Secretary Ed Balls is defending a notional 8,669 majority, and Labour heartland constituencies like Thurrock, Dagenham & Rainham and Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland, said the shadow chancellor in an email to supporters.
Mr Cameron – who yesterday campaigned in Thurrock – was today visiting the Labour stronghold of the North-East, just two days after telling Jeremy Paxman that the area would be in line for public spending cuts under a Conservative government.
And he chose Labour-dominated Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, as the venue for a speech setting out his plans to improve schools.
Mr Brown will launch Labour’s green manifesto in London, as part of a bid to “up the tempo” of a campaign which has been criticised by some activists for relying too heavily on low-profile meetings with existing Labour supporters.
Over the coming week and a half, the Prime Minister is expected to get out and meet ordinary voters more as Labour attempts to breathe new life into a campaign which currently risks polling a smaller share of the vote than Michael Foot in 1983.
Today, Mr Brown voiced his anger over Tory plans to cut child tax credits and inheritance tax in an interview with the Independent on Sunday.
“How can it be a priority to give to people who have already got so much?” asked the Prime Minister.
“It’s not ’God helps people who help themselves’, it’s ’God helps people whom he has already helped’. That’s what their motto is.”
Despite Labour’s position in the polls, Mr Brown insisted he was battling for a majority Labour government.
Drawing an implicit contrast with Mr Cameron, he said: “I am a fighter, I always have been. I come from a background where you’ve got to fight for everything. Nothing ever comes easy by just good fortune. You’ve got to fight for everything you do.
“When things are tough, you’ve got to get up in the morning and show some resilience and determination and fight through it.”
