Cleggs lays down his four tests for LibDem support if election ends in hung Parliament



Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg today set out his four tests that Labour or the Tories will have to satisfy to win his support in the case of a hung Parliament.

Mr Clegg refused to say whether this party would lean towards Labour or the Conservatives if, as some polls predict, neither manage to secure an overall majority.

But he has listed 'four steps to fairness' which will form his party's initial demands if they are asked to back a minority government led by David Cameron or Gordon Brown.

The four are:



Reform of the tax system to lift four million people on £10,000 a year or less out of income tax altogether, financed by higher taxes for the rich;

A 'pupil premium' to target extra education spending at the most disadvantaged children;

Moving to a greener economy less reliant on the financial sector;

Voting reform for Westminster elections.

He also revealed that he would propose an immediate £10billion payoff of national debt, funded by £15billion in spending cuts.



The move aimed at calming fractious markets, which are already wobbling over the prospect of a hung Parliament, would be funded by £15billion in spending cuts.



In a hung parliament, David Cameron or Gordon Brown would have to satisfy four tests set out by Nick Clegg before getting LibDem backing

Mr Clegg will formally unveil the four tests at his party's spring conference in Birmingham tomorrow.



'If a party with no majority has the strongest mandate, we accept the principle that that party has the right to govern either on its own or to reach out to others,' he told the Independent.

But he insisted 'no deals' would be discussed with the other parties until after the votes are counted.

'We are not here to play games with other parties. We are here to secure a big mandate for the big changes we want in Britain. Once we know the lie of the land after the election, we have to work out the best way to do that,' he said.



The clearest enunciation yet of how the LibDems will decide who to back came after Mr Clegg declared his admiration for Margaret Thatcher.



In an apparent bid to woo old school Tory voters he said his party's economic policies were more in tune with Lady Thatcher's than those of David Cameron.

Mr Clegg told the Spectator Magazine he was now grown up enough to see that Lady Thatcher had been right about many policies.

He said: 'I'm 43 now. I was at university at the height of the Thatcher revolution and I recognise now something I did not at the time: that her victory over a vested interest, the trade unions, was immensely significant.

'I don't want to be churlish, that was an immensely important visceral battle for how Britain is governed.'



Iron Lady: Nick Clegg says he has realised Margaret Thatcher was right about many policies

He added: 'And what has now happened to the British economy? It has gone belly-up because, once again, we have allowed a vested interest [the banking sector] to run riot.'

Mr Clegg also compared the Lib Dems tax policies with those of former Tory Chancellor Nigel Lawson.

He said his party's plans to lift anyone out of tax if they earned under £10,000 was a 'Lawson policy'.

In an attack on Mr Cameron, Mr Clegg said: 'A real liberal believes in genuine competition, a genuine level playing field and he is unremittingly hostile to vested interests.'

Mr Clegg's attempts to emulate the Tories will fuel suspicions in some quarters of his party that he is too Right Wing.



The Lib Dem leader has previously been accused of being a closet Conservative.



Senior Lib Dems believe they are more likely to win seats from Labour, rather than the Tories at the General Election.

But the third party knows it will struggle to hang on to some of its key seats in rural constituencies where there has been a Tory revival.

Mr Clegg also insisted only the Lib Dems were committed to tackling the deficit through solely spending cuts rather than tax rises - unlike the Conservatives. 'If you want the economy to grow, you must stimulate demand,' he said.









