VOTERS in York got the chance to grill the national leader of the Liberal Democrats, when he hosted a public meeting in the city.

Dozens of people turned up at the Friends Meeting House in Friargate, to challenge Nick Clegg on national policies and his party’s aspirations for Government.

One woman in the audience asked Mr Clegg what he would do to raise awareness in England that the country was at war in Afghanistan. The Lib Dem leader said the Government needed to adopt a new strategy for Afghanistan urgently.

“Very, very urgently, otherwise people will not be aware of the kind of sacrifices our brave servicemen and women are making,” he said. He said the party was proposing a policy that incorporated the establishment of a new legitimate government in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital city, and dialogue with the “non hard-core elements of the Taliban”.

Earlier in the day, Mr Clegg hailed the 10:10 environmental initiative, which encourages people and organisations to pledge a ten per cent cut in their carbon emissions by next year, but stopped short of criticising the ruling Lib Dems on City of York Council, who have so far refused to sign up to the scheme.

The issue has created a fresh schism within the local party, with energy champion Coun Christian Vassie calling his colleagues’ stance “a disgrace”.

Mr Clegg praised 10:10, but said the city’s council had a good record on green issues.

The Lib Dem leader said his party was targeting more seats at the next election than ever before and said people were “airbrushing history” when they said the Lib Dems had no hope of becoming the largest party.

He said: “At the last election, a quarter of people who voted, voted Lib Dem. That’s six million people – a huge number.”

Mr Clegg said Lib Dems had run councils across the country, and had a good track record.

He defended the party’s record in York, saying: “People should not forget what preceded the Lib Dem administration, and many of the changes we had to make.”

Mr Clegg also called for tougher action on the economy to try to kick-start an economic revival and reinvigorate development.

Asked about the future of major projects, such as the York Central development, shelved earlier this week, he said progress would come only when the economy picked up, adding: “We need to be tougher on the banks. They are still not lending money to businesses or householders in the way they could or should.”