Lib Dems will be impotent without 'big changes', Nick Clegg says In a keynote speech on Saturday morning Mr Clegg acknowledged the Lib Dems had "taken a hit" following the decision to enter coalition with the Conservatives in 2010. He insisted, however, that the party had to position itself as a party of government. We cannot fake this choice. We can't nod and agree and say how important it is - only to then carry on as normal," he said. Our party needs to make some big changes to the way we do things. The way we deploy our message; how we design our policies. In a speech to the party's councillors in Manchester, he said: "Let's just be absolutely clear on the alternative. Governing has carried a cost. We have taken a hit; our opponents try to use the fact we are in government nationally against us locally. But "if we try and turn back the clock, hankering for the comfort blanket of national opposition, seeking to airbrush out the difficult decisions we have had to take, we condemn our party to the worst possible fate: irrelevance; impotence; slow decline." Setting out the approach to policies for the next election, he told activists: "As we go into 2015, we are going to work harder than ever to produce a manifesto that is practical, responsible and deliverable. With coalitions increasingly likely in British politics, every line in our manifesto will be a potential government policy And this manifesto will be scrutinised like never before. I've been crystal clear with David Laws since the day I asked him to coordinate this process: I want the manifesto to set out our ambitious vision for a liberal society. But it must be a to-do list, not a flight of fancy. That doesn't mean 'pre-negotiating' our manifesto - producing a bland, generic set of plans we know either of the other parties could sign up to. We can and must fight the next election on a platform of distinct, forward-looking, liberal policies. We must not stifle our vision, our creativity or our boldness with either political or technocratic excuses. But, building on the approach we took in 2010, we will be even clearer with people about the commitments which are priorities and the ambitions which we accept may be affected by resources and circumstances. As a party with compassionate instincts, the desire to offer big spending commitments will be as strong as it has ever been. But we will resist the temptation to talk big and end up delivering small. Responding to the speech, deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman said: "Talk of 'red lines' from Nick Clegg is laughable - everyone knows his promises aren't worth the paper they're written on. Before the last election he led the Lib Dem campaign against a VAT rise and promised to oppose tuition fee rises. But after the election he did the exact opposite. Instead of honouring his promises, he hitched himself and the Lib Dems to David Cameron's Tory bandwagon which is now driving the country to disaster.