More than 1,000 police officers on duty or standby at conference, ready for mass protests
Nick Clegg has sought to steel his Liberal Democrat activists to face demonstrations outside their party's spring conference, telling them at the opening rally that being in government meant they must get used to protest.
The party, he said, had to realise they had "put down the placards and taken up the reins of power".
Some 3,000 activists, the highest number ever, have registered for the conference in Sheffield, where Clegg is MP for Sheffield Hallam. It is the second since the party entered government, and a test of its ardour for the coalition. Its latest poll rating this weekend was 9%.
More than 1,000 police officers are on duty or standby from Friday until Sunday, ready for mass protests targeted at the Lib Dem leader over public spending cuts and his party's U-turn on student fees. An estimated £2m is being spent to protect the conference; a Lib Dem aide said the police believed "5,000-10,000" protesters may descend on the centre of Sheffield.
The possibility of demonstrations is uncomfortable for the Lib Dems, whose conferences are traditionally less policed than those of Labour and Conservatives. Clegg acknowledged this: "Government is very different from opposition. Difficult choices, especially at these difficult times, provoke controversy and sometimes protest. And it is not easy for us as a party to be the focus of those protests. Some of our proudest moments have been on marches: against climate change, against child detention, against the illegal war in Iraq. We've put down the placards and taken up the reins of power. It's a big change, but it is worth it."
Speaking before Clegg's address, the party's president, Tim Farron, suggested to activists that the alternative vote referendum in May would be a staging post for further, more significant electoral reform. Farron said to those still holding out hope of pure proportional representation with the single transferable vote, or STV: "There are some critics here. STV ultras, we know who you are. Well, to you. Just think of AV as the semi-final." Farron said May's referendum put electoral reform within reach "for the first time in a generation, and if we lose, for the last time in a generation".
Speaking of Clegg's colleague, the prime minister, David Cameron, Farron said: "As Conservative party leader, he has every right to say these things," referring to recent speeches by Cameron on multiculturalism and public service reform. "As Lib Dem president, I have every right to say when he is wrong."
In an interview with the Independent, Clegg acknowledged that the party was going through a "difficult time", but maintained that by a general election, the government would have "wiped the slate clean" of the deficit and voters would judge it more kindly.
The latest YouGov survey for the Sun put the Lib Dems on 9%, Tories on 34%, and Labour on 45%.