Tories launch bid to woo Lib Dems

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The Conservatives have launched a bid to woo Lib Dem supporters on the eve of that party's annual conference.

Tory chairman Eric Pickles said his party shared many values with Lib Dems on issues like the environment and civil liberties.

He also unveiled a former Lib Dem general election candidate who has defected to the Tories.

Lib Dem frontbencher Danny Alexander said his party was winning Tory votes in Mr Pickles' own constituency.

The Conservatives are expecting to be in a straight fight with the Liberal Democrats in many marginal seats at the next election - one of David Cameron's first acts on taking over as leader in 2005 was to launch a website and campaign aimed at attracting Lib Dem defectors.

In a speech to Conservative party activists, Mr Pickles continued the charm offensive, saying: "I believe there is a growing consensus about the kind of change our country needs - a consensus that unites Conservatives and Liberal Democrats."

'Roadblock'

He said the next election, which must be held by June 2010, was "the most important in a generation" as the next government had to address huge debts, social problems, "failing public services" and a "loss of faith" in politics.

The two parties both opposed the government's plans to extend pre-charge detention of terrorism suspects to 42 days and to restrict the rights of many former Gurkhas to settle in the UK, he argued.

When Eric Pickles asks Liberal Democrat voters to come home, does he mean to his constituency where we've been winning council seats off the Tories? Danny AlexanderLiberal Democrats

Mr Pickles said: "I believe in my bones that an election of a Cameron government will strike a great blow for the values of liberal democracy."

He said he was asking Liberal Democrat supporters "to vote Conservative, not necessarily to be a Conservative".

He urged Lib Dem voters to consider "which party in government will deliver on those liberal ideas that are so important to you?" and said the Lib Dems had become a "roadblock to progress".

Among those was James Keeley, a former Lib Dem parliamentary candidate who resigned in February - the latest in what Mr Pickles calls a "steady stream" of Lib Dem activists to defect to the Tories.

Danny Alexander, Nick Clegg's chief of staff, said his party, which is gathering in Bournemouth for its annual conference, had been picking up council seats in Mr Pickles' own Brentford and Ongar constituency.

He said: "When Eric Pickles asks Liberal Democrat voters to come home, does he mean to his constituency where we've been winning council seats off the Tories?

"The Tory chairman's flawed view of history is matched only by his arrogance in assuming that he's got the general election in the bag and can now order people to vote for him."

He said voters still had "huge questions" about the Conservatives and claimed the party was "worried" by the Liberal Democrats, which he said was "the only party that will force through the big changes our country needs".

On Thursday Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said his party was poised to replace Labour as the true progressive force in British politics and said the real choice at the next election would be between the two opposition parties.

Last month, shadow chancellor George Osborne said it was the Tories who were the "progressive" force, claiming Labour had "abandoned the field of progressive politics".