Clegg dismisses Brown reform offer

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has brushed aside Gordon Brown's offer of co-operation on a major programme of political reform if the General Election results in a hung parliament.

Mr Clegg branded the Prime Minister "desperate" and accused him of being a "stubborn block" to constitutional reform throughout Labour's 13 years in office.

In an interview with The Independent, Mr Brown insisted that he was serious about his "mission" to create a "new politics" and urged the Lib Dems to respond to Labour's reform proposals.

But at his campaign news conference in London, Mr Clegg made clear that he was not convinced by the Prime Minister's apparently belated conversion to the cause of reform on the eve of the election.

"I think there is something desperate, frankly, about a Labour Party and their leader Gordon Brown Brown who now try to present themselves as agents of reform and progress when for 13 years they have been a stubborn block to reform and progress," he said.

"Look at their warm words on political reform. If political reform was such a great idea, why on earth didn't they do it for 13 years? They promised a referendum on far-reaching electoral reform in 1997.

"We have been talking about reform in the House of Lords for 100 years. Why suddenly should we believe that a party that has refused to address the fundamental failures of accountability, of lack of transparency, of lack of legitimacy in our political system should now be the champions of precisely the thing they have sought to block?"

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, he targeted Mr Brown even more directly, saying: "I think he is a desperate politician and I just do not believe him."

His comments may be an attempt to counter Tory claims that a vote for the Lib Dems risks letting Mr Brown back in to Downing Street. But the vehemence of his remarks will spark fresh speculation that the Lib Dems could demand that Labour gets rid of Mr Brown as leader as the price of their co-operation in a hung Parliament.

In his interview with The Independent, Mr Brown sought to stress the "common ground" on constitutional issues between the two parties while arguing that it was the Conservatives who were the real opponents of reform. He pointed to his commitment to hold referendums on reform of the voting system for Westminster elections and the creation of an elected House of Lords.