Vince Cable says '˜Lib Dems have nothing to apologise for' during Portsmouth visit

The party’s national leader urged voters to see beyond past scandals that had tarred its reputation.

During a visit to Portsmouth, Sir Vince yesterday admitted that the Lib Dems should not have promised to scrap tuition fees. However, he said that the University of Portsmouth is thriving.

He said: ‘We made a pledge in the 2010 elections that was a foolish thing to do. We apologised for it. But if you look around this city the University of Portsmouth is doing very well.

‘One of the reasons it’s doing well is that the university has a source of income that they get from tuition and otherwise they would be broke.

‘All the evidence is in the last few years there’s been an upsurge in the number of young people going to universities, definitely from disadvantaged backgrounds. This was a long time ago, we shouldn’t have made a pledge but we did and the policy has not turned out badly and I don’t apologise for that.’

The leader also claimed the actions of disgraced former Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock, who represented Portsmouth South, were not linked to his party.

‘In a large group of MPs you occasionally get colleagues who behave badly. Just because one MP has done a few things that are regrettable you don’t blame the whole party for that,’ he said.