MANY angry ex-Liberal Democrat voters in the North will not return to supporting the party, Mr Clegg admitted.

The deputy prime minister acknowledged that some voters were so disillusioned – over the decision to enter coalition with the Conservatives – that his party had lost them for good.

That collapse in support has been most severe in Northern areas such as Liverpool, where lingering anti-Tory sentiment is most common.

But Mr Clegg insisted his party would still be a fighting force at the 2015 election, vowing: "I think we are going to have to get used to coalition."

He said: "Of course some people who used to vote for us absolutely hate the fact that we are in coalition with the Conservatives. As, by the way, if we had gone into coalition with Labour, a whole lot of people who had voted for us would absolutely hate that we had gone into coalition with Labour.

"Of course. these people have peeled away – and many of them might not come back."

However, Mr Clegg said he was "relishing" the chance to present his party as one that had helped rescue Britain from economic disaster.

He added: "We will have been bloodied by the searing experience of delivering in government, over five tough and difficult years.

"What we will be able to say, which we couldn't say for 60, 70 years, is that we can be trusted to sort out the economy.."

Mr Clegg also joked that, despite his difficulties, there were other people who had received even more negative attention than himself in recent weeks.

He said: "Look at Ryan Giggs, look at Ed Miliband. One is a fading left-winger who's upset his brother and is having a difficult time with the press . . . and the other is a footballer."