(MENAFN- Arab News) LONDON: Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg set out the Liberal Democrats' general election pitch on Wednesday promising to be an anchor in another coalition government.
'The Liberal Democrats will add a heart to a Conservative government and we will add a brain to a Labour one' Clegg said as he launched the party's manifesto for the May 7 vote.
The centrist Lib Dems are the junior partners to Prime Minister David Cameron's center-right Conservatives in the outgoing coalition government.
Polls predict Clegg's Liberals could lose around half their seats but they may retain enough to hold the balance of power once again.
Clegg tried to position the Lib Dems as the best of both worlds between the Conservatives and Ed Miliband's center-left main opposition Labour Party. 'Most people want a stronger economy and a fairer society and they're fed up of having to choose one or the other. This manifesto proves you don't need to' he said.
Clegg said either Cameron or Miliband would become prime minister but neither could secure a majority in parliament.
'So what really matters is who they will have by their side' the 48-year-old said.
He raised the prospect of the left-wing Scottish nationalists working with Labour the populist United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) working with the Conservatives.
'Or it could be me and the Liberal Democrats' he said at the launch in a trendy arts space in Battersea south London.
'We won't allow the Conservatives to cut too much and jeopardize our schools and hospitals and we won't allow Labour to borrow too much and risk our economy again' he said.
Clegg set out five headline manifesto commitments to 'fight tooth and nail for' saying he would not stand for any coalition deal without them.
He pledged 'prosperity for all' through eliminating the budget deficit and investing in a high-skill low-carbon economy; and 'fair taxes' through raising the threshold for income tax to 12500 ($18400 17400 euros).
The manifesto also offered 'opportunity for every child' with education funding from nursery to age 19 and qualified teachers in every classroom; 'our environment protected' with laws to protect nature and combat climate change; and 'quality health care for all' by investing 8 billion in state health care and treating mental health on an equal footing.
The 33000-word manifesto is 'an insurance policy against a government lurching off to the extremes' he said.
The latest BBC poll of polls puts the Liberal Democrats on nine percent behind Labour and the Conservatives on 34 percent and UKIP on 14 percent.
The Lib Dems are defending 56 seats in parliament's 650-member lower House of Commons. Pundits predict they are on course to win 20 to 30 this time.
Though they lost protest votes by entering government in 2010 after generations in opposition Clegg said it had been worth it because three quarters of their manifesto became part of the government's program.