£780m Labour housing pledges was not "fully and securely funded"

Labour ministers promised thousands of new homes would be built despite hundreds of millions of pounds in funding not being secured.

The Department for Communities and Local Government took the highly unusual step of releasing details of the scale of Labour’s largesse in the months before the general election.

A trawl of records showed “the previous Government made commitments that were not fully and securely funded”.

It included an eye-watering £780 million towards housing priorities as part of Gordon Brown’s flagship Housing Pledge.

It is understood that the money – half of a £1.5 billion fund - depended on the Home Office and the health, education and transport departments “underspending” on their annual budgets. This money will now be used to tackle the deficit.

A spokesman for Communities and Local Government said the state of the public finances is “severe”.

David Laws, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said the government was instead allocating an £170 million to “fund investment in social rented housing in 2010-11, to help deliver 4,000 social housing starts”.

The Homes and Communities Agency is also cutting £50 million from housing market renewal schemes and £30 million from the gypsy and traveller programme.

No new or further commitments will be entered into.

However Labour’s John Healey, the housing minister until the election, claimed the government’s failure to defend the housing budget would lead to cuts in jobs and homes.

"This is bad for the economy, bad for families' and bad for a housebuilding sector that has been kept going through recession by public investment.

"In failing to defend housing, the new ministers at CLG have shown little fight. On the back of David Cameron's downgrading of Housing Minister to a non-Cabinet post, they've made the Treasury's task of public investment cuts much easier.”

Ashdown asked for Miliband to rescue Lib-Lab pact

I spoke to Paddy Ashdown yesterday for our first Saturday Interview after the election.
As always he was on great form, quoting the politician's prayer - Lord make my words sweet and reasonable for I may have to eat them - he knows he has said one or two things about the Tories.
But he revealed a lot about his personal role in trying to rescue a deal with Labour, including making an indirect plea to one D Miliband.
Here is an extract:

It is clear Lord Ashdown would have preferred to have seen the Lib Dems enter government with the Labour party – something he came tantalisingly close to doing with Tony Blair in 1997, a deal scuppered by senior Labour ministers.

For three decades the Lib Dems have aimed to be a party of government in their own right by trying to “create a realignment of the left around broadly moderate and liberal values”.

That was the vision of former leaders including former one-time North Devon MP Jeremy Thorpe, David Steel and Jo Grimond.

He insists it was “very important” that the Lib Dem negotiators pursued talks with Labour, even in “pretty fragile circumstances”.

“My job in this process was to keep the Labour option alive because if we hadn’t we would have had no bargaining power with the Tories. So of course many of us, the whole party, would have preferred to do that.”

He insists Mr Clegg simply “kept his promise” that whichever party had the most votes and seats had the right to try to form the government first.

“Did I think it would end up precisely as it ended? No. Did I think there would be a serious attempt to do this? Yes I did.”

Two factors caused the Labour talks to fail. “The first was the old Neanderthals, the old knuckle draggers, stopping it happening for tribal reasons.”

In particular he blames former Deputy PM John Prescott, outgoing justice secretary Jack Straw, and former home secretaries David Blunkett and John Reid. “These were the old tribalists who stopped things happening in ‘97.”

He admits that Mr Brown was also a key roadblock to doing a deal in 1997. The outgoing Labour leader has “many, many personal gifts – one of them is not the personal gift required to run the country”.

But he is also critical of the would-be future Labour leaders who failed to see the potential of doing a deal with the Lib Dems this week.

“I think there was a failure of action by those who could have staked out very clearly this is where they wanted to go.

“By this I mean David Miliband. There was a point, and I will say to you that, not directly but indirectly, I know that this point was made to him: that he ought to come out clearly and say if he was leader of the Labour party he would back this.

“But I fear greatly that he decided that for reasons of a leadership election, he wouldn’t. I think that’s true of others too.”

UPDATE: The Independent on Sunday has picked up the story today. However Jane Merrick reports that:

The accusation that Mr Miliband, the frontrunner in the race to succeed Gordon Brown, could have denied the Conservatives power was rejected by sources close to the former foreign secretary last night.

Lib Dem: You can’t trust the f***ing Tories

It seems we are inching towards a deal between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, with both leaders due to meet their MPs today.

They should not underestimate the unease and distrust in their ranks at the – especially among the Westcountry contingent who have just spent four weeks slogging it out in one of the dirtiest election campaigns many said they had seen.

Today’s Western Morning News contains a number of juicy comments from both Tories and Lib Dems – some on the record, some off – which should give the consensual negotiators pause for thought.

It seems to have brought out the potty-mouthed worst among them.

Liberal Democrats

One Lib Dem in the region said a deal with the Conservatives would be a "f***ing travesty". This morning on the way into a sun-drenched Parliament, a Lib Dem MP told me: “You can’t trust the f***ing Tories.”
Another frontbencher said: "Not many Lib Dems joined the Lib Dems to help the Tories, but every party lost so we are where we are. There are probably quite a lot of Tories who are not thrilled by the prospect of working with Liberal Democrats."

On electoral reform, a Devon Lib Dem source said: "This is what we have been waiting for, for 80 years. The economic crisis is huge but will continue for a few years. Constitutional reform would last 100 years. I am left with the slight sense the Tories are just leading us a dance and don't really want a deal at all."

Conservatives
Tories in the region seem no keener to cosy up to Lib Dems.
Hugo Swire, Tory MP for East Devon and a former member of the Mr Cameron's shadow cabinet, ridiculed the idea that the Lib Dems are "the new, fresh party", saying they had been a "disaster" when running Westcountry councils.
"The reason we kicked them out of overall control in Cornwall, the reason we kicked them out of Devon County Council and Somerset County Council… is we know how completely useless they are when they are in power."
One option understood to be being considered is a "confidence and supply" deal, under which the Lib Dems would undertake not to bring down a minority Conservative administration in return for assurances on certain policy areas.

"Given how flaky the Liberals are, how long that will last, who knows," Mr Swire added.

Labour

A Labour source claims Lib Dems in the region will defect to them on mass: "There will be mass insurrection among the Liberal Democrat grassroots."
And Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw said: "I still find it hard to believe that the Lib Dems would agree to a deal with the Conservatives without a referendum on electoral reform and if they fail to reach a deal with the Conservatives then our door is always open.

"We support a fair voting system. It was in our manifesto. There is an alternative to a Con-Lib collation, in a progressive alliance of Lib Dems, Labour, possibly the moderate Northern Ireland parties, that could deliver that historic political reform and manage the country and the economy stably for the next two or three years."
2pm UPDATE: All morning I have been speaking to MPs, new and old, of all three parties. A selection of their views:
Labour: "Brown must go, it's just a question of when. He was toxic on the doorstep."
Tory MP on Lib-Dems: "They will sh*t on you, they will be b*st*rds and then they will stab you in the back."
Lib Dem MP telling Tories: "Play your cards right and I'll make you my PPS."

Benn: Conservatives have made progress

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, sporting a very large rosette, tells Sky News says "one of the stories tonight is the number of people who have come otu and voted".
There has been "some" trouble in Leeds with people trying to vote.
Asked if Labour will lose majority: "On the basis of the exit poll it looks as if Conservatives have made progress." Must work towards a parliament that works.
"I think that it is going to depend entirely on the results. But at the same time I think certainly as far as Labour is concerned if there are others with whom we can work, that is something we should contemplate.
"It's going to depend on the result itself. The things that we have fought this election on... just because the election is over doesn't mean we will stop fighting."

Exit poll – are Westcountry Lib Dems in trouble?

So the exit poll is saying: Con 307
Lab 255
Lib Dem 59
Other 29
For the Lib Dems to LOSE seats is remarkable after all the excitement of Cleggmania. With Tories and Lib Dems across the Westcountry admitting they had not seen the post debate surge for Clegg witnessed elsewhere in the country, I suspect this poll could mean gains for the Tories in the South West against the Lib Dems, while the Lib Dems make gains in the north against Labour.
All politicans are queuing up to say exit polls are always wrong, though mainly citing 1992.
But Paddy Ashdown on ITV has been magnificent: “Your figures are inaccurate … polls are nearly always innaccuare, wildly inaccurate."

Now Darling says Labour supporters in Tory/Lib Dem marginals should vote for "next best choice"

Chancellor Alistair Darling has become the latest minister to hint at Labour supporters backing the Lib Dems in areas where they are best placed to keep the Tories out.
In an interview in today’s Western Morning News, Mr Darling insisted every voter had to decide for themselves who to back at the ballot box, and “would encourage people to vote Labour”.
But in the wake of Ed Balls and Peter Hain saying similar things, Mr Darling said:

“We and the Liberals have many areas where we share a view, on political reform for example and that is opposed by the Tories.

“I think every voter knows what the score is in their constituency and they have got to make their own mind up and think if they cannot get the first choice, go for the next best choice. It is for the voters to choose at the end of the day. My job is to set out our case.”

Last week Mr Balls told me that Labour and the Lib Dems have “common cause” to “stop the Conservatives”.

“In some places people vote Liberal to stop the Conservatives, in other places they are voting Labour to stop the Conservatives. Of course, I think everybody should vote Labour but I do want to stop a Conservative government.”

And of course he repeated that on Tuesday, while Welsh Secretary Peter Hain who said, in an interview with The Independent, that people should “vote with their heads, not their hearts”.
Also speaking to me for today’s paper, Nick Clegg rejected these advances, knowing it could spell disaster for Lib Dems in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset who do not want to be seen as an extension of Gordon Brown’s unpopular party. He said Labour ministers were “just desperately trying to save their own skin”.

“Don’t let any politician tell you how to vote. It’s your choice, it’s your country, it’s your future.
“I am asking you to vote for something, to vote for a different politics, for fairer taxes by raising the income tax threshold to £10,000, for smaller class sizes and more one-to-one tuition for your children, for rebuilding the banks to get them lending again and for a decent and open politics.
“I think it’s a measure of how desperate Labour have become that they are now trying people to try to second guess how other people will vote, when I think people should be voting with their hearts.”

Someone in Labour HQ has a good idea shock

Few would argue the Labour campaign thus far has been great. One of the big surprises is why the Tories aren't doing better given how woeful the Labour effort has been. Bigotgate, Elvis and even today photos of Gordon Brown praying in front of a stained glass window suggest there is no real direction or control.

So knock me down with a feather. This video on the Labour party site, taking a satirical swipe at David Cameron's Big Society, is smart and funny with a strong message.

Even if there is an argument for people getting more involved in their communities instead of relying on the state, this cleverly portrays a busy mum trying to run a home as well as most of the public sector. The moment when she is looking for yet another ringing phone in her messy kitchen and answers "hello parole board" and claiming there are always breakouts at the prison when The Robinsons are in charge were particularly good.

What do Labour do about the Lib Dems? Cabinet not sure

Senior Labour party figures are split over the way to prevent a Tory landslide in the Westcountry by wooing Liberal Democrat support.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband told the Western Morning News yesterday that he would not disrespect voters in the region by telling them to vote tactically.

But his comments appear to contradict remarks made by Schools Secretary Ed Balls on Wednesday, when he highlighted Labour’s “common purpose” with the Liberal Democrats in wanting to “keep the Conservatives out”.

Mr Balls said: “In some places people vote Liberal to stop the Conservatives, in other places they are voting Labour to stop the Conservatives. Of course, I think everybody should vote Labour but I do want to stop a Conservative government.”

Other senior Labour figures to suggest Lib Dem support could help Labour include Business Secretary Lord Mandelson and Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw, who said he would be "very comfortable" working with the Lib Dems.

But speaking as Labour stepped up its campaign with a new set of posters, Mr Miliband told the WMN: “I respect people in the Westcountry very much indeed and I am not going to tell them how to vote tactically.”

Outside Labour strongholds in Exeter and Plymouth, all of the major marginal battles in are between the Conservatives and Lib Dems. The Tories need to win a 10 Lib Dem seats in the Westcountry to secure a Commons majority of just one.

Have the Tories really wasted their money?

Driving around the Westcountry it is impossible not to notice the huge amount of money the Conservatives have spent in the key marginals. Huge campaign posters - many featuring US-style grinning colour photos of candidates - line verges, fields and gardens.

It is impossible to drive into any of the major towns without passing a billboard plastered with the latest Tory attack on Labour, or a giant David Cameron looking down on you.

On one visit to the Torbay seat, I arrived to find a new Tory attack poster being pasted over an old "I've never voted Tory before..." one. Literally money to burn, it would seem.

But speaking to David Miliband this morning, as part of a round of regional interviews he was doing post-debate, he made an interesting point.

“We haven’t got the money the Tories have. The party that’s spent the most money has, according to the opinion polls, lost the most votes.”

It is true the Tory poll lead slumped just as the campaign really got underway. And Lord Ashcroft surprisingly quickly became a well-known shorthand for Tory ‘outsider’ money, which many in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset don’t like.

But it has also created a sense of momentum, and of taking an interest in a region which has long felt ignored, especially by the two largest parties.

The Liberal Democrats have quietly grumbled about the Tory spending, while reluctantly admitting they wouldn’t be spending the huge sums if it didn’t work.

Just how well it has "worked" is not clear. We’ll have to wait another week for that.

Leader's debate - a verdict, of sorts

The economy was big stuff, and it was time for the big boys. It turned into Cameron v Brown. Clegg peaked too early in the debates, and he struggles with some of his policies. He could have done with Vince sitting on his shoulder.

It’s the economy stupid. Everyone knows that some nasty cuts are coming after next Thursday. All three leaders were put on the spot. All three said they were going to be “frank” and then danced around specifics. You can’t blame them. There is an election next week.

David Cameron, in need of a strong performance, got off to a confident start and built on it. He probably came out on top. It's not clear he has done enough to seal the deal but he came closer than he has in the last two debates. Brown's attack on inheritance tax was repetitive but hits home.

Gordon Brown, one-time Iron Chancellor, is convinced everyone else is wrong on the economy. He tackled the ‘bigotgate’ episode head-on, saying it was an example of how he doesn’t always get the job of PM right. But, he said, he did know how to run the economy. Tory spin doctors quickly claimed this was the “first joke of the night”.

He slammed the “same old Conservative party of the 1980s and 1990s” – a charge which will sting in the Westcountry.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg again made his plea for politicians to “work together… to be open and straight about how big the black hole is”. Fat chance. This is a fight to the death, a fight in which he was in danger of looking like a spectator.
These debates have been game changers. Not just for the three men at the podiums – and Mr Clegg remains the greatest beneficiary – but for the electorate as a whole.

Of course there is still apathy, trust remains low and anger still fizzes over expenses and immigration.

But after years of politicians complaining that their words are twisted by us nasty hacks, these debates have been a platform for them to set out their stall. The claim that all the parties are the same has subsided. Real differences have emerged over Trident, voting reform and, tonight, the economy.

Go back to your constituencies and prepare for (a) government.

POLLS
YouGov/Sun: Cameron 41%, Clegg 32%, Brown 25%
ComRes: Cameron 35%, Clegg 33%, Brown 26%
Angus Reid: Cameron 36%, Clegg 31%, Brown 23%


Moment of the Night:
Michael Gove on Sky tells Charlie Whelan he may be out of a job next week and Tories would help him "quickly out of welfare and into work". Brilliant.

Is this the lamest poster of the election campaign?

It is widely agreed that the best Labour poster since Tony Blair left Number 10 was the Not Flash, Just Gordon billboard which appeared as Brown took over.

In four words it captured Brown’s strengths – solid, dependable, reliable – and the weaknesses of David Cameron – flash Harry, all style, spin and cringe worthy photo opportunities.

By contrast, the Labour party seems to have completely lost their way with their latest effort, above.

(The one saving grace being that presumably this ‘poster’ will not actually appear anywhere other than hacks’ inboxes)

The message is still a strong one, and putting bigotgate to one side, Brown is at his best when he avoids the spin and presentational tricks to just be himself. (Incidentally, this is not the same as the pre-prepared soundbites he keeps wheeling out on the TV debates about being rubbish at TV debates.)

But the new poster is truly rubbish. The choice of photos makes all three leaders look about equal - though not in size, obviously.

Why not use a picture of Brown giving a statesmanlike speech alongside Cameron on his bike and Clegg dunking hobnobs with Vince Cable?

According to the Labour press office: “The poster highlights David Cameron and Nick Clegg's lack of substance on the economy and the risk to the recovery the Conservatives' and Liberal Democrats' policies pose.”

Not sure it does any of that, actually.

Douglas Alexander, Labour's General Election coordinator said: "Tonight's debate will be an opportunity to demonstrate that a Conservative government would cut support from the economy and put the recovery at risk. Only Labour can plan for growth and secure the recovery."

Despite what Team Brown might say, there is a real need to be good at presentation, media management and marketing in 21st century politics, as the Gillian Duffy fiasco showed yesterday.

Frankly, far better for them to just concentrate on the substance of tonight’s economy debate and turn Photoshop off.

The leaders send mixed messages - no wonder voters are confused

So, Clegg won't prop up Brown. Brown needs Clegg. Cameron doesn't want to want Clegg, but Ashdown says Clegg can't work with Cameron.
Meanwhile, the Tories spin that they are now focussing on Labour seats in the north which they previously felt were out of reach.
But just when cats across the Westcountry thought it was safe to doze behind the front door, another 500,000 Tory leaflets are being sent to target Lib Dem marginals.
The ongoing excitement of the Lib Dems holding their place in the polls disguises the truly shocking picture for Labour, trailling in third in more polls than not.
Party managers are growing increasingly concerned about Ben Bradshaw's seat in Exeter, where aides admit it is "neck and neck" with Tory Hannah Foster. The Tory love-bombing in Plymouth could also pay dividends in Linda Gilroy's seat.
The Lib Dems hope that Nick Clegg's ongoing popularity on the national stage will save them in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset, though activists admit they have not seen a huge surge in support on the doorstep in the last two weeks, in part because the Lib Dems are already well known in the region.
So, Monday morning on the train to Plymouth. While the final result will go down to the wire, this could be the week when the election is won or lost by one of the three main parties.

At last – those two defections to the Tories

More than a week ago, I sparked a bit of a flurry of interest by posting what I believed to be imminent news that two Lib Dems were jumping ship to the Tories. I can now reveal that the two defectors are long-standing Lib Dems, who had been sitting as Liberals for the last three years, after becoming increasing upset at the party.

Tony and Simon Inch, who currently sit as Liberal Councillors for Bideford South in Torridge District Council, are backing Conservative Geoffrey Cox (right) in his campaign for re-election in Torridge and West Devon.

Tony Inch, a former Mayor of Bideford and respected town and district councillor, said: “Simon and I have always had a good working relationship with Geoffrey.”

“We know how hard he works. He has always been friendly, approachable and supportive. It doesn’t matter who you are, if you have a problem he is your MP and that is all that counts.”

“We are both campaigning for Geoffrey to carry on being our MP. He is a true local constituency MP who works for the whole community first and foremost.”

The brothers left the Liberal Democrats in July 2007 in disgust after it emerged a colleague in the party was running a sex chat-line and advertising stripteases on the Internet.

Last night Mr Cox said: “I am proud to have won the support of Tony and Simon, whom I greatly respect as really good servants of our community. Their support shows that more and more people of traditional Liberal beliefs are increasingly seeing the modern Conservative Party as a congenial home.”

It marks a major move for the Inch brothers, and is a reflection on the way the Tory party is viewed in the Westcountry. I know of other long-standing Lib Dem supporters elsewhere in Devon and Cornwall, who come from the more traditional, Methodist history of the party, who are upset at the way the party has selected candidates and some of its campaigning methods.

However, it is not all one way traffic.Last week it emerged the former chairman of the Redruth Labour party Janet Brook had switched to back Lib-Dem Julia Goldsworthy in Camborne and Redruth. Mrs Brook said the Labour had changed, adding: “The Lib Dems are the only party standing up for ordinary working people”.

This defection clearly did not upset Labour's candidate Jude Robinson, who posted on Twitter:

The Lib Dems getting desperate in #Camborne. A 'switcher' that no-one has heard of and another who was last seen in 2001. #bestyoucando?

Tories winning battle of the hedgerows

The Tories are winning one battle in the Westcountry. The one for the hedgerows.
Driving from Plymouth to Saltash, then on to Redruth before heading back to Truro, Conservative Vote for Change placards were everywhere – in fields, up trees, on roundabouts, derelict buildings. You name it, Lord Ashcraft will pin a poster to it.
The Lib Dems were easily second, though the bright orange diamonds look a bit old-fashioned next to the Tories’ colour-printed photos of their candidates.
In the 80-odd miles I’ve covered today, I have seen just one Labour poster. And a small one at that.
Cornish nationalists Mebyon Kernow managed a good half a dozen.
UKIP had a couple too.
Much excitement with the egg-throwing hoodies in Saltash attacking David Cameron. A fine political tradition, and it was one of the heavies which bore the brunt of the mess.
Nick Clegg’s media circus seems to be growing, though the veterans of the yellow battlebus are wearying of hearing the same anecdotes.
When Clegg was stood silently waiting to speak to Sky News, surrounded by supporters, he enquired: “How long is this going to go on for?”
His battle-hardened press spokesman replied: “Another two weeks.”
I know how she feels. Tomorrow, St Austell then Helston. And I’ve still not had an ice-cream.

Bradshaw: I'd be "very comfortable" working with Lib Dems - it's what voters want

Gordon Brown is in The Independent today talking in code about forming a “progressive alliance” which is taken to mean Labour and the Lib Dems uniting to fight the Tories.

But in an interview in today’s Western Morning News, Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw has been more explicit.

He said he would be “very comfortable” working with the Liberal Democrats, and even suggested the public should vote to force the two parties into a coalition.

“There is very little you could put between me and many Lib Dems.”

The Culture Secretary’s 8,559 majority in Exeter has been heavily targeted by the Tories, and success in retaining the seat could depend in part on wooing Lib Dem supporters.

He pointed to voting reform, the green agenda, overhauling the House of Lords, Europe and helping those on low incomes as common ground between Labour and the Lib Dems.
In an “unpredictable election”, he said he wanted Labour to win outright, but repeatedly stressed he could “work effectively with Liberal Democrats on those reforming issues”.
Speaking after a day campaigning in the city, Mr Bradshaw said:

“I work very well with local Lib Dems. I share a great deal in common with them.
“I get a lot of positive feedback from Liberal Democrats on the doorstep in Exeter who realise that the only way they will get real political reform and a fairer voting system is either by voting for a Labour government, or Labour working with the Lib Dems. The Conservatives are the no-change party.
“I think it is very exciting. I think we have a unique and historic opportunity in Britain for real change, that I have been arguing and campaigning for years – meaningful change to the electoral system and reform of the House of Lords.”

Recent opinion polls suggested a third of people wanted to see no overall winner.

“It is very interesting that the public would actually welcome a balanced parliament.
The public want change, they don’t want change to the Conservatives and the way they can get change they want is by making Liberal Democrats and Labour work together.”

He insisted Labour was “fighting very hard” and “not taking anything for granted”.
In the Westcountry, Labour’s best hopes of retaining power depend on the Lib Dems holding back the Tory party. In 10 of the dozen seats the Conservative need for a majority, 10 are Lib Dem/Tory battles.
THE FULL STORY IS IN TODAY’S WESTERN MORNING NEWS

UPDATE: The fightback begins. "Ben Bradshaw is no friend of the Lib Dems in Devon," is how Brian Greenslade, former Lib Dem leader of Devon County Council puts it.
"This is just desparate Labour trying to cosy up to the Lib Dems in the hope of hanging onto office."

Labour talk about Tory win

We were summoned to the super-futuristic, super-trendy surroundings of Bloomberg in the City, to hear about Labour plans for the economy.

Instead, all we got was Labour talking about the Tory plans for the economy, and surprise, surprise, how Labour don’t agree with them.

We even had to endure a fake radio report, which they obviously had a lot of fun with in the Labour press office.

The premise was it is the morning of June 25, George Osborne has just delivered his emergency budget, widespread horror from just about everyone.
Even Alistair Campbell got a look in, posing as a sports reporter who managed to get political, talking about an Anglo-German row at the World Cup. All very amusing/cringe-worthy* (delete as appropriate).

It seems a major gamble for Labour to keep on talking as if the Tories are going to win.

And the idea that it will be all sunshine and happy days if Labour win, without any job losses in the public sector after the election, is just as fanciful as the radio broadcast and this website (above) which they have also launched.
On an unconnected note, Gordon Brown repeatedly referred to “mainstream public services”.
It sounds like the sort of wooly phrase which joins the long list of “hard-working” families and people on “middle” incomes.
But could it be paving the way for cuts in the “non-mainstream” public services.
An where will they be?

Now Harman cosies up to the Lib-Dems

Alan Johnson is at it in The Times. Gordon Brown has tried it. The Tories want to play it up, thinking it will affect their support.
Now Harriet Harman in today's Western Morning News tries to cosy up to the Lib-Dems. She urges
Westcountry voters to basically do whatever they can to keep David Cameron out of Number 10, which in most of the region's seats means voting Lib-Dem.

The key quotes:

"It will be either David Cameron or Gordon Brown in Number 10 after the election.
"People have seen Gordon Brown and they know what he is doing on the economy and his concern about unemployment and jobs."
Ms Harman said there are "a lot of areas of agreement" between the two parties, including calls for reform of the voting system and the House of Lords.
"The Lib-Dems have supported a number of quite important steps Gordon Brown has taken to blunt the impact of the global recession."

Although space meant it didn't make the cut in the paper, she added that voters "will be thinking 'is my vote going to mean David Cameron might end up in Number 10'?".

So don't vote for Labour but just stop Cameron.
She said Cameron was "supposed to be the one to watch" in the TV debates, but "didn't win it".
Interestingly, she refused several opportunities to say Gordon Brown did win the debate - and did not mention Nick Clegg by name at all.