LIBERAL Democrat leader Nick Clegg refused to tell voters in East Oxford who he would back in a coalition government on a visit to the city today.

When asked by the Oxford Mail to say where his loyalties would lie if there was a hung Parliament after next Thursday’s General Election, he sidestepped the issue.

Mr Clegg visited Oxford Brookes University to outline his plans for tax reform, decentralising the NHS and scrapping tuition fees.

But he would not be drawn on who his party would side with in the event of a hung Parliament.

Voters in the marginal seat of Oxford East could play a crucial role in the outcome of the election.

When the Oxford Mail asked Mr Clegg whether he thought local people had a right to know where his loyalties lay, he said: “What they do have a right to know is the policies and priorities that I would back.”

Mr Clegg also admitted the Institute of Fiscal Studies was right to criticise the three main parties for their failure to spell out the extent of public sector spending cuts that would be needed to tackle the financial crisis.

Asked to explain the estimated £34bn hole in his own cost-cutting proposals to the NHS, university and local authority workers of East Oxford he said: “My constituency has more public sector jobs. They will be nervous, they can see tough decisions and they want openness in what we are planning.”

“The IFS did acknowledge we have gone much further than the other parties.”

Mr Clegg’s campaign bus rolled into the city on a visit to boost his party’s hopes of winning Oxford East. In 2005, Liberal Democrat candidate Steve Goddard lost to Labour’s Andrew Smith by just 963 votes. Both men are fighting the seat again this year.

Local Lib Dems have said they are targeting the student vote in their bid for victory this time.

Mr Clegg told a hall packed with students at the university’s Gipsy Lane campus that one of the most exciting things about the 2010 election campaign was that young people were re-engaging with politics.

He said: “We can only do things differently if you assert your right to have your say in your country.

“In the ballot box it’s a small box but a big opportunity to do something for a better, fairer future.”

Speaking about his plans for modernising the NHS, Mr Clegg said that he wanted to protect its founding principles of equity and access but said a shift in power was needed.

He said: “We now have more managers and bureaucrats in the NHS than we have beds. The NHS is dictated from the top and it should be driven from below.”

He also outlined his plans for education, telling students that the Liberal Democrats would phase out university tuition fees over a six-year period.

Mr Clegg added: “Do I think £1.7bn is a reasonable amount to find to give you a start in life free of debt? You bet I do.”

It was a policy pledge that went down well with most, if not all, of the audience Student Ishe Binny said afterwards: “I’m a bit concerned about the waiving of tuition fees. I don’t understand how he will pay for it.”

  • We asked a number of students for their verdict on Mr Clegg's appearance at the university:

Clare Ambrosino, 21, studying politics: “I really liked the way he approached young people and the new generation of voters. I like his policy on tuition fees even though it won’t impact on me. I had my doubts before but that will probably change.”

William Baker, 21, studying politics: “I think he is a very good public speaker. But he talked a good game and that’s where it ends. He definitely needs to answer the question of the hung Parliament. I still intend to vote Conservative.”

Ashley Hiden, 22, studying anthropology: “I think his stance on the NHS was bang on, talking about it being run from the bottom up and giving power to people like nurses. I was Labour at the start but I am now thinking Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems.”

Simon Wigfield, 22, studying politics:“I think I like him as a candidate but I have a grievance about the day, as it was structured too much to the media. If he wants votes in this marginal constituency, he should have spent more time with the people.”

Joe Giddings, 20:“I thought he did really well. But I was listening to what he said on a coalition in a hung Parliament and I think he didn’t answer it. He has got my vote.”

Julia Williams, 20, studying tourism: “I think he comes across very well and is very persuasive in the way he seems to talk to you. It seems a very personable approach. I could relate to some of the policies he wants to bring in but it has not changed my vote.”