Nick Clegg remained defiant on the campaign trail in Scotland yesterday despite a poll showing he was on course to lose his seat at next month’s election.
The Liberal Democrat leader insisted he was “going to win”, after the survey by Lord Ashcroft suggested he was trailing by up to 29% in Sheffield Hallam.
A separate ComRes poll of 40 Labour seats in Scotland showed backing for the party had fallen from 14% in 2010 to 2%.
Mr Clegg joined Jo Swinson in her under-threat East Dunbartonshire constituency as the pair announced plans to offer six weeks of paternity leave – a three-fold rise.
He said: “On May 7, I will be returned as MP for Sheffield Hallam, which is one of the greatest pleasures of my public life.”
The polling found evidence of a concerted effort on the ground to prevent the deputy prime minister from being ousted, with more than three-quarters saying they had received literature, letters, phone calls or visits from his team – significantly more than for other parties.
In a finding that fuelled speculation that Mr Clegg’s chances were being bolstered by his former coalition partners, the Conservatives appeared to be doing little active campaigning in his seat, with only 13% of voters having had any contact from the party.
Better news for the party in the survey of eight Lib Dem battleground seats concerned Cambridge, where it has moved nine points ahead of Labour in the battle to retain the seat – after being a point behind in a similar poll in September.
The Lib Dems have also fallen further behind the Tories in both North Devon and St Austell and Newquay, where one-point deficits have become seven and six respectively – spelling danger for ex-minister Nick Harvey and Stephen Gilbert.
But in three other of its South West seats – North Cornwall, St Ives and Torbay – it has edged into slight leads.
Lib Dem sources stressed that Lord Ashcroft’s poll did not name the candidates and insisted that the party did 9% better in polls where individuals were named and “clearly Nick is extremely well known in Sheffield Hallam”.
The party also pointed to local election results within the constituency, where in 16 contests since 2010 the Liberal Democrats have won 14.