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Jo Swinson faced difficult questions from the Question Time audience about her voting record in favour of "harsh and uncaring" Tory benefit cuts.

The Liberal Democrat leader was grilled about her record as a minister in the coalition government that brought in the bedroom tax.

A member of the audience asked: "With 14 million UK citizens now living in poverty do you regret voting for harsh and uncaring benefit cuts".

She replied: "Far, far too many people in our country are living in poverty and life is too hard and we did not get everything right."

Presenter Fiona Bruce reminded Ms Swinson of her voting record which included supporting the bedroom tax, against raising benefits and against giving higher benefits to people with illness or disability.

Ms Swinson repeated: "We didn't get everything right."

Ms Swinson insisted that she and her colleagues had held back some of the harsher plans of the Tories.

She told the audience in Sheffield: "We also had plenty of fights with the Conservatives and we won some of those fights and we lost some of those fights and I am sorry that we did not win more of those fights in coalition."

She said: "We did stop the Conservatives cutting £12bn more from welfare, we did stop them bringing in the two-child cap which they did when they were on their own in 2015.

"I absolutely think we have lessons to learn from that I've learned those lessons."

Ms Swinson, who was a minister in the 2010-15 Tory/Lib Dem coalition, also left the door open to another coalition with the Conservatives, if Mr Johnson was removed as leader.

Ms Swinson was tackled about her claim at the start of the campaign that she could realistically become PM.

(Image: via REUTERS)

“Do you regret how ridiculous that sounded?” an audience member asked.

Smiling ruefully, she claimed: “I don’t regret it.”

But she went on to sidestep questions about whether she still believed she could enter No10.

The audience also tackled the Lib Dem leader over her bid to scrap Brexit without another referendum.

“You think we are stupid and don’t know what we voted for,” said one woman.

Another railed against the party still claiming to be democratic, branding its name a “misnomer”.

The Prime Minister and Labour leader were each due to be quizzed for 30 minutes by a BBC1 Question Time studio audience in Sheffield.

Lib Dem chief Jo Swinson and the SNP ’s Nicola Sturgeon were also confronted with voters’ questions, hosted by BBC presenter Fiona Bruce.

The leaders will drew lots to decide the appearance order.

The format has proved tricky for No10 hopefuls in the past; in 2015 Ed Miliband stumbled off the stage after fielding questions for half an hour.

And in 2017 Theresa May was wounded after shouting at a nurse: “There is no magic money tree!”

The TV showdown comes after Labour launched its manifesto, and on the eve of the Conservatives’ unveiling their ballot box blueprint.