Lib Dems are put on general election alert

CHARLES KENNEDY, the Liberal Democrat's leader put his party on "general election alert" yesterday, with a warning that Tony Blair could call a snap poll in the new year.

The Prime Minister might choose to take advantage of the current disarray in the Tory party to go for an early election, Mr Kennedy said in his new year message to party activists.

"We have to be on constant general election alert," he said. "We must not dismiss the possibility of an unusually early Westminster campaign, particularly with the riven condition of William Hague's Conservative Party.

"So, for us, that campaign is now effectively under way."

At polling time, the party would look to take seats from both Labour and the Conservatives while holding on to its existing 46 Commons seats. "So long as we remain united, coherent and constructive as a party that is an entirely feasible prospect," he said.

He warned the Government that the Liberal Democrats would use their position in the reformed House of Lords, where they now hold the balance of power, to curb Labour's "more illiberal instincts".

"Our role as a fully independent, campaigning political party must be to speak up for those whose voices are just not being heard by this Government. The social justice agenda is not left of centre - it is Liberal," he said. "Equally, we will seek to fulfil the role of constructive opposition now abandoned by a divided, discredited, Europhobic and increasingly extreme Tory party under William Hague."