Election losses‘gutting’, says Clegg

DEPUTY PRIME Minister Nick Clegg yesterday called his party’s disappointing performance in the European elections a “huge setback” but insisted he would not resign, vowing to “finish the job”.

The Liberal Democrat l eader described t he situation as “gutting and heartbreaking” after his party was pushed into fifth place nationally and sixth in Scotland.

It secured just one MEP in a near wipe-out, lagging behind a triumphant Ukip, which romped to victory with 24 seats.

Speaking from Liberal Democrat headquarters in central London, Mr Clegg said: “It didn’t work but it was right that we stood up for the values we believe in.

“I’m immensely proud to lead the most united, resilient and toughest party in British politics.

“We made

a

big commitment to the British people in 2010 to step up to the plate, to form a government, to reform and repair the damaged British economy and to deliver policy after policy after policy that the Liberal Democrats have been campaigning on for generations.

“That is what we must continue to do. We must finish the job.

“Of course, it is right to have searching questions in the wake of such a bad set of election results, but if I’m honest the easiest thing in politics, just as in life, sometimes when the going gets really tough is just to walk away, to wash your hands of it.

“I’m not going to do that and my party is not going to do that.

Mr Clegg said resignation had not even crossed his mind but accepted it was a “difficult time” for the party.

He added: “If I thought any of our real dilemmas would be addressed by changing leadership, changing strategy, changing approaches, bailing out now, changing direction, then I wouldn’t hesitate advocating it. A bsolutely not.

“This is a really difficult time but also a time ... to hold our heads high for the case we made, the case for an open-minded, generoushearted internationalist Britain.”

Mr Clegg said Nigel Farage had “every right” to be pleased with his party’s performance in the elections, but said he would now need to show how what he stands for is an answer to the problems facing the country.

He added: “If you look across Europe there is clearly a Europe-wide phenomenon, not just confined to Ukip in Great Britain, of a lurch towards the right — in some cases the far right — a lurch towards populism and to the politics of very, very simple answers to very complex problems.

“What he (Mr Farage) will now need to do over the coming weeks and months is explain how what he stands for really is an answer to the problems we face as a country.”

Getty Images. Nick Clegg.