Kennedy: we can smash two-party system

Charles Kennedy today told voters they could have only 225 days to decide Britain's direction.

In a rousing speech to mark the end of the Liberal Democrat conference, Mr Kennedy said the countdown had begun to the next general election.

He called on the electorate to vent their anger over Iraq, tuition fees and the pensions crisis at the polls next year.

The grand finale to the Lib-Dems' conference was a call to arms to the party faithful ahead of a possible general election on 5 May.

Mr Kennedy claimed: "We are moving from a party of protest to a party of power."

He described the party as a "breath of fresh air" in British politics. Emphasising key themes of this year's conference, he sought to hammer home that his party stood for "freedom, fairness and trust".

Mr Kennedy said: "These are our watchwords. And they are the principles which match the increasingly liberal instincts of 21st-century Britain."

Mr Kennedy highlighted what he presented as key government failings, from mounting student

debt to the plight of the elderly forced to sell their homes to pay for care and rising violent crime.

In an appeal to the Left wing of the party, he claimed the party would "have no truck with shortterm, knee-jerk responses" to complex social issues, such as asylum and immigration.

He also reiterated the party's pledges on the environment, calling for more renewable energy and international commitment to the Kyoto targets to cut greenhouse emissions.

He also insisted that his party's ambitious pledges were fully costed. He has faced accusations that policies such as free care for the elderly are unaffordable.

He said: "We have the most watertight set of tax and expenditure proposals possible. The balance sheet is balanced."

But the most powerful section of his speech was devoted to Iraq. The Liberal Democrats are the only main party that has consistently opposed the war and public disillusion over the conflict is seen as the party's best hope of winning votes.

In his opening words, he issued a heartfelt message of sympathy to the family of Iraq hostage Ken Bigley: "I would like to say to them that they are at the forefront of our thoughts and prayers, and that quietly, and very sincerely, we hope nothing but the best for them in the torturous hours ahead."

Later in the speech, Mr Kennedy launched a blistering attack on the Government for dragging Britain into the war and attacked the Conservatives for failing to provide more robust opposition.

He said: "From the outset we have provided rational, principled and consistent opposition to the war in Iraq. Without exaggeration. Without name-calling. Because we believed it was the right thing to do."

He called on voters to deliver their verdict at the ballot box. "The British people have probably not more than 225 days left to choose between two essentially conservative parties - and the real alternative, which is the Liberal Democrats. It is a serious choice. And we, increasingly, are the winning choice."