Nick Clegg set to defend work of coalition to reporters

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will suggest that two parties are better than one when it comes to tackling the “intractable problems” that have troubled single-party governments for decades.

The Liberal Democrat leader will say the coalition “continues to confound its critics” by staying the course despite claims of infighting as he argues it has taken on the trickiest issues such as social care, welfare reform and pensions.

He will make the comments at the start of a new series of monthly press conferences with journalists in Westminster in a move that harks back to the regular media question and answer session staged by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown during their time in No 10.

Mr Clegg will tell reporters that his party continues to recognise “that it is our duty to put party differences aside for the sake of the national interest” and will lash out at Labour for being “incapable of making a single decision”.