The Labour party has been branded the "most shambolic and ineffective official opposition in living memory" in a scathing attack by Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron.

Mr Farron accused Labour of allowing the ruling Conservative government to "get away with things".

Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Mr Farron - who took over from Nick Clegg after a dismal showing in last year's General Election - said his party was slowly recovering, with a 50 per cent increase in membership since then.

There is a real sense of us coming back but I'm absolutely clear this was not a 12-month job, We've got a big job ahead of us, but I think the state of British politics requires the Liberal Democrats to recover so we better had. Tim Farron, Lib Dem leader

He said the Lib Dems had been "stopping dreadful things" while they were in coalition with the Tories - and said he would not rule out entering a similar arrangement in future.

"If you want to change the world, you've got to be prepared to get involved with power," he said.

"I think that all of us collectively as a country have learnt over the last 12 months... we see the attack on our schools, through forced academisation, the attack on junior doctors.

"You look at the dismantling of the green energy programme that the Liberal Democrats brought in and it's a reminder to everybody what the Liberal Democrats were doing, doing great things and stopping dreadful things."