Charles Kennedy has given the green light to tactical voting after refusing to discipline a Lib Dem candidate, Gordon Dean, who urged a Labour vote to defeat Gillian Shephard in South West Norfolk.

"I don't take to hard a view about this [tactical voting] because I think increasingly that due to the corruption of the first-past-the-post system, people feel almost dragooned into these kinds of awkward decisions," he told GMTV's Sunday programme.

The Lib Dems are set to use their strength in the House of Lords to put pressure on Labour over public service reform.