Deputy PM says next month's Lib Dem party conference could be difficult, but insists 'debate is not a bad thing'

Nick Clegg admitted today that he faced more hostility from members of his own party than the general public.

Clegg has faced criticism from Liberal Democrats for failing to make more progress on party policies such as social policy and electoral reform, as he attempts to hold together a united front in the coalition with the Conservatives.

The deputy prime minister said he had faced hostile questioning from Lib Dems during meetings as he tours the UK, most notably in the north of England.

During one meeting in a Conservative-led area, Clegg said: "Is there nervousness? Of course there is."

Clegg acknowledged anxiety in his party, but denied that it demonstrated a major rift. "Yes there are anxieties, yes we are a very democratic party as, if you want to come to our conference, you will see," the Lib Dem leader said.

"I love the fact that there are open debates and you betcha there are people who are going to be there saying: 'Mr Clegg, we think you got this wrong or that wrong.' That is what debate is about. I am the leader of a political party, not a sect."

The reception he had received was "quite different in different parts of the country," he told the Times. "There is a particularly acute anxiety about the future at the moment in some of the big northern cities. I think it's principally because people remember the 1980s as a particularly vicious recession for them and their families."

Clegg has faced criticism from fellow MPs as well as rank-and-file party members. The veteran Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock said on Tuesday that Clegg would face a "sticky" party conference, after the Institute for Fiscal Studies concluded that the coalition government's June budget was regressive.

"We didn't sign up for a coalition that was going to hurt the poorest people in society, and I certainly didn't get elected to do that ever," Hancock said.

Clegg said next month's conference could be difficult, but "debate and people expressing their views is not a bad thing".

Some disgruntled members have argued that the party should form a coalition with Labour, and there have been reports that Charles Kennedy, the former Lib Dem leader, has been considering a defection to the opposition.