Kennedy goes cool on ties to Labour bid to head off Hughes threat

CHARLES KENNEDY has ruled out closer co-operation with Labour in a bid to head off a growing threat from Simon Hughes, his main rival in the Liberal Democrats' leadership race which ends this week.

At the start of the election, Mr Kennedy promised to consider an extension of the work of the Cabinet committee which includes Labour ministers and senior Lib Dem figures, if proposals were made by Tony Blair.

But Mr Kennedy has hardened his line at a series of hustings meetings in the face of hostility to closer Lib-Lab links by Lib Dem members. At the meetings, all five candidates have broadly agreed that co- operation should not be extended.

"I don't detect a great appetite amongst Liberal Democrats for that co-operation to be extended to welfare or educational reform," Mr Kennedy said in an interview with the left-wing journal New Times. "So I'd rule out any extension of the remit of the joint cabinet committee at this stage."

In June, Mr Kennedy told Don Foster, the party's education spokesman who favours closer co-operation: "If the Prime Minister made a proposal along the lines which you suggest, then I would certainly consult the party."

Lib Dem MPs who want closer links with Labour are disappointed that Mr Kennedy has toughened his approach. "I think he has been rather taken aback by the mood of the party," said one. "There is no doubt that his initial line did not play well."

The ballot of the party's 90,000 members ends on Friday and Paddy Ashdown's successor will be announced a week today. Although many activists have already voted, a last-minute surge is expected.

Mr Kennedy remains the front-runner but could be given an uncomfortably close run by Mr Hughes, who suggested yesterday he was "more energetic" than Mr Kennedy but denied accusing him of being "lazy". "Favourites don't always win," Mr Hughes told BBC TV's Breakfast with Frost programme.

Mr Kennedy highlighted his greatest asset, his voter appeal, saying: "In this media-driven age of politics, if you can't communicate with a wider appeal than just the party faithful, then actually the party is not going to progress," he said.

MUST PLS Supporters of Jackie Ballard, the only woman in the race, believe Mr Hughes is on course to defeat Mr Kennedy, but that she can still overtake Mr Hughes. Under the proportional voting system, the bottom candidate drops out and second preference votes are redistributed until one runner secures more than 50 per cent of the total cast.

Ms Ballard is believed to be in third place, ahead of David Rendel, the party's social security spokesman, and Malcolm Bruce, the Treasury spokesman.