Kennedy calls on party to 'raise its game to live up to public expectation'

Charles Kennedy has urged his party to raise its game ahead of the general election, which he predicts will be decisively good for the Liberal Democrats.

In an interview with The Independent, Mr Kennedy has said his party must live up to a "public expectation" that it will do well and capitalise on unprecedented "public goodwill towards the Liberal Democrats".

But he has warned his MPs and candidates to stay out of "lowest common denominator" debates with the other parties about race and Gypsies, even if it means the party could appear squeezed out of the mainstream political action.

In a thinly veiled attack on Michael Howard, who has highlighted immigration and Gypsies in the pre-election campaign, Mr Kennedy declared: "I am not going round the country in the next few weeks talking Britain down. Quite the opposite. I am going to talk Britain up. We have a lot to be optimistic and positive about in our country."

Mr Kennedy said his party would not "feel pushed into trying to ape Labour and Conservative with their campaign techniques". He urged his party not to "get distracted by short-term noises and commotion".

He predicted that the party would see a big increase in its share of the vote, adding that there was "no glass ceiling" to Liberal Democrat ambitions. "The potential is there for a decisively good election for the Liberal Democrats," he said.

But he expressed caution about predicting the number of seats the Liberal Democrats, who now have 55 MPs, could deliver. "We have been very careful not to put figures on eventual outcomes but I think we will see a big increase in our share of the national vote. How that translates into individual seats who knows, but the potential is there for it to be very good."

He urged his MPs to up the ante during the election and prove that the party was ready for power. "Inevitably an election campaign is about raising its game," he said.